Adani mine could be blocked without compensation: Mines department

Qld’s parliament could block all coalmining in the Galilee Basin without paying compensation, the state’s Mines Department says.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. Picture: AAP

Queensland’s parliament could block all coalmining in the Galilee Basin — including Adani’s proposed Carmichael project — without paying compensation to the companies involved, the state’s Mines Department said today.

Appearing before a parliamentary hearing in Brisbane, Adani chief executive Lucas Dow said his company would be entitled to “sizeable” compensation if the Palaszczuk government moved to strip the company of its right to mine thermal coal in central Queensland.

The Law Society of Queensland also said in a written submission that a Greens bill to prohibit coalmining in the Galilee Basin appeared to “breach fundamental legislative principles” as it “would appear to not have sufficient regard to the rights and liberties of individuals”.

However senior Mines Department bureaucrat Claire Cooper outlined three examples when the previous Labor government passed laws to cancel mining rights last decade, only one of which involved paying any compensation.

“How the fundamental legal principles work is that they are not mandatory. They don’t have to be complied with,” Ms Cooper, the acting executive director for mines and energy resources policy at the Department of Natural Resources Mines and Energy, told the committee.

“The Queensland parliament must look to a bill and see whether it has had sufficient regard to fundamental legal principles but, if there is a departure, then the Queensland parliament needs to look at the explanatory notes to be able to see if there was a sufficient justification for any departure from the fundamental legal principles.”

Ms Cooper said the state parliament cited the public interest to withdraw mining entitlements in 2003, 2004 and 2008.

It only offered compensation in 2004, when parliament agreed to reimburse a company, Aluminium Pechiney Holdings, $572,160 for its costs associated with a bauxite lease at Cape York that it was blocked from exploiting.

Mr Dow was backed by Queensland Resources Council chief executive Ian Macfarlane, who told the committee: “If you take back a resource lease, you’re entitled to compensation.”

The Mines Department’s deputy director-general policy Ben Barr said passing the bill could hurt Queensland’s reputation as a stable destination for investment.

“Anyone who has invested capital in these projects, whether it is exploration or capital on the ground, would lose that particular impact. There would also then be potential indirect economic impacts from the bill such as … the impact on local service providers, the impact on investor confidence, and about investing in the region as well,” he said.

Mr Macfarlane said the hit to investor confidence would shake sectors other than resources, suggesting large engineering firms would be more wary of building roads and railway lines if they believed the government could strip their property rights without compensation.

Adani Mining chief executive Lucas Dow. Picture: AAP

Greens coal bill ban ‘dangerous’

Adani says a bill aimed at killing off its controversial Queensland coal mine would do untold harm to the state’s economy, AAP reports.

State Greens MP Michael Berkman has put forward a retrospective bill to ban coal mining in the Galilee Basin where the mine site is located.

He wants existing mine leases, including Adani’s, torn up and coal mining in the basin banned forever to ensure Australia can meet its targets under the Paris pact to fight global warming.

Adani Mining chief executive Lucas Dow will address a public hearing in Brisbane on Monday but has already warned the bill is economically dangerous for Queensland

“This bill would create enormous regulatory uncertainty and sovereign risk for Queensland, which would extend well beyond simply the Galilee Basin,” he told ABC radio, ahead of the hearings.

“It would have far-reaching impacts, and would also put the government in a position of having to pay compensation.”

Mr Berkman said that if the entire basin was mined, this would increase the seaborne thermal coal market by 30 per cent.

“That’s going to drive down prices, that’s going to increase the uptake of coal, and it’s going to mean that we completely blow our Paris targets,” he told the ABC.

“That’s really what this is about. No amount of solar power, no amount of renewable energy of any type, can prevent the most catastrophic consequences of climate change if we dig up this volume of coal.”

Mr Dow was due to address the hearing today.

Additional reporting: AAP