Adani: Shorten digs in on coal

Bill Shorten made a show of his support for the coal industry, announcing a coal miner Labor’s candidate in Capricornia.

Bill Shorten has announced coal miner Russell Robertson as Labor’s candidate for the marginal Central Queensland seat of Capricornia. Picture: Zak Simmonds

Bill Shorten made a show of his support for the coal industry, announcing coal miner Russell Robertson as Labor’s candidate for the marginal Central Queensland seat of Capricornia and declaring that his party’s scepticism about the $16.5bn Adani mine does not equate to it being anti-coal.

Mr Shorten’s comments came after Labor’s resources spokesman Jason Clare this morning said the party was “not in the business of ripping up contracts”, when asked whether Labor would oppose the Adani mine if allegations that the mining giant falsified lab reports were proven.

The comments appear to indicate the party is focused on winning marginal Queensland seats at the next election, rather than ensuring victory against the Greens in the Batman by-election, where opposition to the mine is a key issue, despite the Melbourne seat being more than 2000km from Central Queensland.

Mr Shorten said Adani did not represent the whole coal industry.

“There’s nothing wrong with demanding that Adani stack up commercially and environmentally, and no amount of pressure from Adani is going to make me back off standing up to make sure that the deals actually add up financially and add up environmentally,” he said.

“But I want to make this point very clear, that when the boosters of the Adani deal say somehow if you’re sceptical about Adani that makes you sceptical about the coal industry, that’s just not right.

“I’ve spent my life representing miners. I understand the importance of mining. I’ve spent my life representing resource construction workers. I’ve spent my life standing up for blue collar engineering workers.

“The big difference between the Labor Party and the Liberal Party is that Malcolm Turnbull thinks a coal miner is Gina Rinehart. I think a coal miner is (Capricornia candidate) Russell Robertson.”

National Party whip Michelle Landry won Capricornia by just 1,111 votes in 2016.

“The reality is that we are the party of miners, we are the party of farmers, we are the party of the services industries, we are the party of average and middle class Australians right around this country, so if there are environmental concerns and commercial concerns about Adani well that’s just the way it is,” Mr Shorten said.

“That doesn’t mean there’s no role for coal in Australia. It just means this particular project has a lot of question marks and the reality is it’s not just me saying it.

“The difference between me and the LNP is they know it, they just won’t tell people that, whereas I’m willing to be up front.”

“One thing I can tell you right now: I’m not going to use taxpayers’ money to stack up an Indian billionaire trying to get money out of the Australian taxpayer to otherwise bankroll the Adani mine. That doesn’t make sense.

“If I’ve got to use scarce taxpayers’ money I think that is a pretty important obligation to spend it wisely.”

Mr Shorten said Labor would spend $176m on the nearby Rookwood Weir, and $47.5 on the first stage of the Rockhampton-Yeppoon Road duplication.

“That’s what you use taxpayer money for, for the interests of the people, not to give tax cuts to multinationals or to help companies overseas get a taxpayer magic carpet ride in Australia,” he said.

‘We’re not in the business of ripping up contracts’

Labor resources spokesman Jason Clare with Labor leader Bill Shorten.

Mr Shorten’s comments today come after he gave his strongest indication yet that Labor would oppose the Adani mine while launching former ACTU boss Ged Kearney’s Batman by-election battle earlier this month, pointedly referring to allegations published that day that the Indian mining giant had falsified scientific evidence and samples.

“If this is true, then that’s a very serious matter, and I call upon the federal government to immediately investigate these allegations to ascertain if they’re true, because one thing is true: one thing is beyond doubt, that Adani does not deserve a licence to operate a coal mine if they are relying upon false statements and false facts,” Mr Shorten said on February 2.

Asked repeatedly today whether Labor would follow through on Mr Shorten’s threat and prevent Adani from operating its mine if the allegations were proven, Mr Clare eventually said: “We’re not in the business of ripping up contracts.”

Mr Clare told Sky News: “There’s some plans that need to be developed around water which Malcolm Turnbull will need to tick off in the next few months, but let me repeat this point: ultimately the ball’s in Adani’s court.

“They’re the ones who’ve got to raise the money to make this happen.

“It’s looking increasingly unlikely that that will happen. Australian banks haven’t funded it, they haven’t reached financial close yet.”

Mr Clare said people in the North Queensland city of Townsville were “increasingly concerned” that the Adani mine would not go ahead.

“There’s been big promises over many years that the coal mine will get off the ground that it will create thousands and thousands of jobs,” he said.

“The feedback I got is that the people in North Queensland now think it probably won’t happen.

“You’ve got 30,000 people in Central and North Queensland that are unemployed, that are desperately looking for a job, waiting on what increasingly looks like a project that won’t go ahead. We can’t just sit on our hands and wait, and that’s why Bill Shorten’s up in North Queensland now.

“He was in Townsville on Monday, Mackay yesterday and in Central Queensland in (Rockhampton) today announcing infrastructure projects that are going to create real jobs for people who desperately need them.”

Mr Clare said Labor had consistently called for the Turnbull government to investigate the allegations that Adani falsified the tests.

“You don’t want companies tampering with evidence, and there should be a proper investigation of it,” he said.

“The company still needs to conduct water management tests and develop a water management plan. That also has to be ticked off by the government.

“We don’t want a situation where the mine could lead to the poisoning of the Great Artesian Basin and affect farmers or farming land, so the federal government’s got to get its act in order, conduct proper investigations, make sure that the water management plan is properly assessed before it’s approved, and ultimately the ball is in Adani’s court here.”

Pressed repeatedly on whether Labor would oppose the project if the lab test results were found to have been falsified, Mr Clare said he wasn’t focused on “one lab test, one result.

“It’s important that the state and federal government examine that. It’s important that the water management plans are done properly and we understand what the impacts of the water management, the extraction of water from the basin would be on farming and farmland, it’s important that Adani tell the people of Australia when this project is going to go ahead if at all. Ultimately the ball’s in their court,” he said.