Queensland election 2017 live: No Adani loan warning
Palaszczuk failed to inform the Adani board in March that her government would block a federal loan to the project.
Hello and welcome to live coverage of day 12 of the Queensland state election campaign, ahead of the November 25 poll. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk will travel to the Wide Bay region, Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls is expected to travel to the Gold Coast while Pauline Hanson’s “battler bus” is bound for Mackay and Bowen.
What’s making news
• Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk pulled the pin after anti-Adani push polls.
• LNP unveil plans to counter “scare campaigns” about the state of the Great Barrier Reef.
• Barnaby Joyce says it is critical that the LNP win the Queensland election but it will be very hard for the party to do so.
Sarah Elks 3.08pm: Palaszczuk failed to provide loan warning to Adani
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did not tell Adani’s board in March that the Queensland government would block a federal loan to the project.
Ms Palaszczuk attended the company’s board meeting when she visited India in March. On Friday, the Labor leader announced she would move to veto a federal Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan to Adani to build a common user rail line in Queensland’s Galilee Basin.
Ms Palaszczuk initially said she made the decision because of a conflict of interest caused by her partner working on Adani’s NAIF application. Now, however she says Queenslanders don’t want the loan, and says the decision abides by her 2015 election commitment that Queensland taxpayers money should not go to Adani.
Today – campaigning in the marginal Labor seat of Maryborough – Ms Palaszczuk was asked whether she told Adani’s board in March that Queensland would not stand in the way of the NAIF loan.
“Uh, what I said was that was a matter of the federal government,” Ms Palaszczuk said.
“I made it very clear that was a matter for the federal government.”
Asked whether she warned Adani she would have to veto the loan because of Queensland Labor’s 2015 election promise, Ms Palaszczuk said: “I made it very clear it was a federal government issue”.
“I said it was a matter for the federal government, and it still is.”
“If the federal government wants to pay for it, they can pay for it.”
Sarah Elks 2.45pm: Shorten backs MPs, dodges Adani questions
Opposition leader Bill Shorten says he has “complete confidence” Labor MPs Susan Lamb and Justine Keay were elected properly, despite concerns they are dual citizens.
“I’ve got complete confidence when we have universal disclosure of all MPs, that both Justine Keay and Susan Lamb have satisfied the necessary tests, full stop. But what is really important here is not the government attack on a couple of my members of parliament, we need to resolve the citizenship crisis which has engulfed the Turnbull government. Now we had constructive discussions yesterday, but we’re still apart on two significant issues.
“My view is that the people of Australia are fed up, they just want to be certain that their MPs are eligible to do the job they have been voted in to do. There’s only two differences of an immediate nature between myself and the Prime Minister.
“One Is, the High Court set down a standard, and it repeated what the old law was, but it made a decision recently. We think when MPs are required to disclose their circumstances, it should be consistent with the test set by the High Court, not a lower test.
“Our concern yesterday was that Mr Turnbull’s resolution would create more problems and more questions than it would answer.
“The second of the two issues that we require a solution on is the timing. Mr Turnbull wants to resolve this matter at a later date than I do. And we’re not that far apart to be fair.”
“My view is this MP saga has now rolled on for months…we need to resolve and put forward all of our information, once and for all, by the 1st of December. Mr Turnbull wants a later date that would necessitate recalling parliament in December, and quite frankly, why should taxpayers pay a single extra dollar, because of the government’s problems.”
Asked whether he took a firm plan as to how Labor would resolve the citizenship crisis into his meeting with Mr Turnbull yesterday, Mr Shorten said he did.
“By all means,” he said.
“The High Court has set down the test for the application of the Constitution, the high jump bar. We think the Constitution and the High Court’s decision should be respected, and that’s the disclosure standard we believe in. Mr Turnbull, though, perhaps has a bit of memory loss here.
“He was happy enough back a month ago to demand I produce documents, I did. But then what’s happened is we’ve asked for the same standard of disclosure from the government, and thus far they haven’t. I think it needs to be resolved once and for all, one rule for everybody, not one rule for Labor and one rule for the LNP. One rule for all.
“The crisis in the Turnbull government can’t go on. We’ll keep being constructive, I’m sure we’ll resolve this, it’s a matter though of making sure we uphold the High Court’s test and we do it in a timely fashion.”
Mr Shorten walked away when he was asked whether he was pleased Queensland Labor had adopted his position that the federal government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility should not lend money to Adani.
“I did say one last question, thank you,” he said as he walked away.
Charlie Peel 2.15pm: Nicholls returns to the Gold Coast with M1 pledge
Opposition Leader Tim Nicholls has returned to southeast Queensland to announce more funding to tackle congestion on the Gold Coast.
In his third trip to the traditional Liberal National Party stronghold in two weeks, Mr Nicholls pledged $100 million to go towards upgrading on and off ramps on the busy M1 motorway.
“The M1 is the state’s busiest road but all too often it is clogged with traffic reduced to a crawl, delaying motorists from getting to work and returning home to their families,” he said.
“Traffic backs up on exit ramps, sometimes queuing onto the motorway, creating a safety and congestion issue.”
Improvements could include lengthening ramps, making intersection improvements or fixing local feeder roads.
The LNP leader met with several of the party’s Gold Coast MPs and candidates battling to hold on to the crucial seats.
It was a quick homecoming to the southeast for Mr Nicholls who flew out of Cairns this morning after spending two days campaigning in north Queensland.
Last week Mr Nicholls pledged $250 million to build a $500 million motorway to run adjacent to the M1.
12.57pm: Battler bus back on the road
The wheels on Pauline Hanson’s ‘battler bus’ are going round and round again after the no-frills rental broke down on the Queensland election trail. The One Nation leader was making her way from Rockhampton to Mackay on Thursday morning when the engine started making an intense hissing noise. A brief inspection at a petrol station yielded no answers but it had barely left the parking lot when the check-engine light came on.
The bus, carrying a gaggle of reporters, stopped on the side of the Bruce Highway near Marlborough before returning to the servo.
After waiting two hours for a mechanic, a blown turbo hose was found to be the culprit and it was promptly repaired.
“You think that’s going to stop me, I’m heading north,” Senator Hanson said. “We all have our ups and downs and I can tell you I’ve had mine.”
AAP
12.21pm: Paul Kelly’s roadie lends a hand to Hanson
A roadie for Australian musician Paul Kelly has come to Pauline Hanson’s aid after her battler bus broke down on the Queensland election trail. The engine of the rented, no-frills bus started making an intense hissing noise on Thursday morning forcing it to stop at a petrol station north of Rockhampton. A brief inspection yielded no answers and the bus was soon back on the road. But it was barely out of sight of the petrol station when the check-engine light came on.
The bus, carrying a gaggle of reporters, stopped on the side of the Bruce Highway near Marlborough before returning to the servo to wait for a mechanic. Truck driver Shane Williams, 45, pulled up at the same servo to buy some lunch when he spotted the One Nation bus in distress.
Mr Williams, who is currently transporting the equipment for Paul Kelly’s national tour, crawled under the bus to check the engine, but couldn’t find an obvious fault.
In exchange for his assistance, Senator Hanson bought Mr Williams some sandwiches.
“I’m a big supporter,” Mr Williams said.
“I’m all for what she stands for.
“I think immigration is a big thing for everybody.” Senator Hanson has been making her way up the Queensland coast, targeting regional seats with the hope of claiming 11 or more seats on November 25. She copped flack for christening the bus with champagne before it hit the road in Brisbane on Monday.
But she later revealed a Nine Network reporter had given her the “cheap” bottle of plonk for the stunt.
“When we actually win these double-digit seats you can buy me a better bottle of champagne to celebrate,” Senator Hanson told Nine’s Today show host Karl Stefanovic.
It’s unclear if the One Nation leader will make it to Mackay and Bowen on the bus on Thursday, or if she might have to resort to a plan B.
AAP
9.57am: Battler bus breaks down
Pauline Hanson’s battler bus has broken down en route to Mackay.
The One Nation leader launched the bus tour on Tuesday, popping champagne as polls showed the party was sitting on 18 per cent of the primary vote and could hold the balance of power.
Sarah Elks 9.55am: Substance found in Premier’s office cleared
White powder found in the Queensland Premier’s Annastacia Palaszczuk’s 40th floor office in the 1 William Street tower in Brisbane is believed to be wood shavings from a termite in an Aurukun dog carving.
Police were called today after the substance was found last night.
A spokesman for the Premier’s office said the powder was later identified to be packing powder from when the carving was sent down from Cape York.
Ms Palaszczuk bought the statue from the Cape York Aboriginal community of Aurukun last year, after visiting to inspect the local school amid violence concerns.
Aurukun artists are famous for their brightly painted and personality-filled camp dogs.
9.15am: Labor again rules out support for casino
Queensland Labor has again ruled out its support for a boutique casino on Great Keppel Island, despite it being one of One Nation’s “deal breakers”. Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the government had done its homework about where the state’s new casinos should go.
“I’m sad to say Great Keppel Island was not one of those areas where people had that significant interest,” he told ABC Radio on Thursday.
The Labor government approved a new casino in Cairns and another licence is available to the Gold Coast, but Senator Pauline Hanson said one of those should go to the central Queensland island.
Senator Hanson, who is not a candidate in the upcoming state election, reiterated her support for 35 gaming tables as part of Tower Holdings’ $600 million project on Great Keppel.
Senator Hanson said the boutique casino, a coal-fired power station, cutting power prices by 20 per cent and scrapping the Cross River Rail were “deal breakers” if the major parties wanted One Nation’s support.
“That’s what’s on the table and that’s what we’re sticking with,” she said.
AAP
Sarah Elks 9.00am: Shorten to join Premier on hustings
Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten will join Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk on the campaign trail today, in the crucial region of Wide Bay.
Ms Palaszczuk will announce more than $150m in work for train manufacture and maintenance firm Downer, in Maryborough - where Labor’s Bruce Saunders sits on a fine margin of 1.1 per cent.
The Premier is travelling with Deputy Premier Jackie Trad and Natural Resources Anthony Lynham today, and will fly north to meet Mr Shorten, who is making his first appearance on the campaign trail.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has not yet joined LNP leader Tim Nicholls, who is heading to the Gold Coast today after a few days in regional Queensland.
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