Labor warnings for Bill Shorten on opposing Adani

Labor frontbenchers have urged Bill Shorten to shift the Adani debate away from “green’’ issues.

Labor frontbenchers have warned Bill Shorten that the opposition cannot be seen as “anti-coal”.

Labor frontbenchers have warned Bill Shorten that the opposition cannot be seen as “anti-coal” and urged him to shift the Adani debate away from “green” issues and on to public funding and alleged flaws in the approval process.

Labor right-wing MPs have begun to push back against the ­opposition’s lurch to the left on ­issues such as Adani, claiming that the party is dangerously exposed to appearing anti-coal and anti-jobs. Labor sources have confirmed the issue was raised in shadow cabinet on Monday night but was a “discussion” rather than a heated debate. They said it had been noted that the Opposition Leader had begun in recent days to “moderate” his language.

The internal warning came as former coalminer and mining union official Mike Brunker, who narrowly failed to win the state seat of Burdekin for Labor at last November’s Queensland election, yesterday warned Mr Shorten he could say goodbye to north Queensland at the next federal election if he turned his back on the Adani mine.

Mr Shorten’s one-time leadership rival Anthony Albanese ­declared he was not a “mad leftie”, he took a “commonsense” ­approach to politics, and he was loyal to Mr Shorten, as he had been to former prime minister Kevin Rudd, whom Mr Shorten helped to ­topple as leader.

In the Melbourne seat of Batman, which Labor is fighting to retain from the Greens at a by-election, Mr Shorten last Friday highlighted the threat posed by the mine to the Great Barrier Reef and the Great Artesian Basin.

A shadow cabinet source told The Australian that Labor’s position on Adani had not changed and was largely confined to its ­rejection of any taxpayer money going into the Indian-owned ­project. The Opposition Leader yesterday sought to clarify Labor’s public stance. “What we saw from the government is they’re not actually going to provide funding; that’s actually been Labor’s position,” Mr Shorten said.

He said there was “increasing scepticism” about the mine’s future, with the company unable to secure finance from Australian banks.

“I also believe that we need to make sure that all scientific approvals have been diligently researched,” Mr Shorten said. “This is our position, and I think it’s a sensible position.”

Deputy Labor leader Tanya Plibersek said the party was yet to arrive at a final position on the mine, and would work “slowly and methodically through all of the issues”.

Malcolm Turnbull told parliament that Labor under Mr Shorten had declared war on business in a bid to get elected.

“He is determined now, the most left-wing leader of the Labor Party we’ve seen in generations, to move his anti-business, anti-investment, anti-jobs agenda,” the Prime Minister said.

“Well Australians won’t be fooled by that. They know that 403,000 jobs last year is the growth you see with strong economic leadership and they won’t be putting that at risk for his left-wing populism.”

Environment Minister Josh Frydenberg told parliament that Labor had abandoned the thousands of Queenslanders who stood to benefit from the Adani project because it feared losing Batman to the Greens.