Queensland election 2017: Adani decision demands answers

Annastacia Palaszczuk made one of the biggest decisions of her term in government on Friday, and now she doesn’t think she needs to explain it.

By promising to veto a federal government loan of up to $1 billion to Adani’s massive proposed Galilee Basin coal project, the Queensland Premier may have put at risk a development she’s spent years spruiking as essential for her state’s economy.

Palaszczuk has insisted many times that the Adani project is crucial for creating jobs, particularly in regional Queensland, where youth unemployment has hit staggering highs.

At the end of a lacklustre first week of her election campaign — which had been marred by anti-Adani protesters — Palaszczuk announced the veto. She blamed her partner Shaun Drabsch’s previously unknown work for Adani, through his job at PricewaterhouseCoopers, and the resulting conflict of interest. She pointed the finger — without evidence — at a whispering campaign from the Liberal National Party which allegedly threatened to expose Drabsch’s role, and justified the veto using advice from the state’s Integrity Commissioner.

But the commissioner’s written advice reveals the Premier did the opposite of what was recommended. Instead of absenting herself from any decision about every Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund applicant, she unilaterally made the biggest decision of them all: torpedoing possible NAIF funding to Adani.

Palaszczuk bristled yesterday when asked to explain why she had acted contrary to advice. After taking several questions from reporters trying to understand her justification for the decision and its ramifications, Palaszczuk had had enough.

“Are there any other questions? I think we’ve exhausted (this).”

Palaszczuk abruptly ended the press conference and walked away as The Australian tried to ask what her decision would do for investor confidence.

Queenslanders have a right to know, as they prepare to go to the polls on November 25, every detail about Palaszczuk’s snap decision to threaten the largest development on the state’s books.