Shorten in U-turn on Adani as Batman poll looms

Bill Shorten has hardened his position on the Adani coal mine ahead of a must-win fight with the Greens in Batman.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten. Picture: Colin Murty

Bill Shorten has hardened his position on the Adani coalmine ahead of a must-win fight with the Greens in the Batman by-election in just under a fortnight.

In a move branded by the government as political opportunism, the Opposition Leader declared yesterday: “I don’t support the Adani project.”

Mr Shorten said last year he supported the $16.5 billion mine, but more recently said he was “sceptical” of the project.

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said Mr Shorten was putting votes in Batman ahead of jobs in Queensland.

“Bill Shorten has shown he will put political opportunism ahead of the rule of law and science,” Mr Frydenberg said.

“With the seat of Batman on the line, he is trying to shore up green votes in the city at the expense of blue-collar workers in the regions. A year ago he said he supported the Adani mine and now he has gone back on his word.”

Mr Shorten has been under growing pressure over the Adani project, with the Greens positioning the proposed north Queensland coalmine as the central issue of the Batman by-election, in Melbourne’s inner north. In April last year, Mr Shorten told an audience in Queensland: “I support the Adani coalmine so long as it stacks up. I hope it stacks up, by the way.”

By yesterday, however, he had done an about-face.

“I’m not supportive of it,” he said. “In terms of the commerce, no Australian bank will invest in it. No Australian super will invest in it. How many more deadlines can this business fail to meet?

“It has been spoken about since 2011. That’s a matter of record. It has had numerous deadlines. If you believe the initial hype and boosterism about Adani, they’d have been shipping coal out of Australia for the last three years.”

Mr Shorten failed to address a direct question on whether he gave an assurance to the Australian Conservation Foundation in January that he would use federal laws to revoke Adani’s licence if it managed to get off the ground.

Mr Shorten accepted a $17,000 private ACF-funded tour of the Great Barrier Reef and charter flight over the Adani mine site on January 23-24.

Former ACF president Geoff Cousins said last week that while on the trip, Mr Shorten discussed how he could use federal environmental laws to revoke Adani’s licence if Labor won government.