Geoff Cousins says Labor leader Bill Shorten vowed to revoke Adani mine licence if Labor win election

Could it be that a Labor election win would see Adani lose their licence? Geoff Cousins said Bill Shorten assured him exactly that.

Australian Opposition Leader Bill Shorten has allegedly promised to stop Adani. Picture: AAP

Millionaire businessman and ­environmentalist Geoff Cousins has revealed private conversations with Bill Shorten last month, claiming the Opposition Leader promised to revoke the Adani coalmine ­licence as soon as he took ­government.

The former president of the Australian Conservation Foundation said he met Mr Shorten over two days in north Queensland to discuss the potential environmental impact of the proposed mine.

“He said he wanted to learn as much as he could first-hand about the mine and the impacts on the reef and climate-change ­issues … because he was planning to firm a policy position on Adani,” Mr Cousins told the ABC’s 7.30 last night.

Mr Cousins said Mr Shorten had privately assured him “at least half a dozen times” that he would revoke the existing coalmine licence on the basis of environmental concerns when Labor took government.

“The key statement was ‘when we are in government, if the evidence is as compelling as we presently believe it to be regarding the approval of the Adani mine, we will revoke the licence’,” he said.

Mr Cousins presented Mr Shorten with legal advice confirming the federal government could revoke the state mining ­licence under section 145 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.

Mr Shorten’s fluctuating position on Adani has concerned some in Labor, particularly among the blue-collar unions and regional Queensland Labor members, for whom the mine represents jobs.

In May last year, Mr Shorten said that if Adani stacked up and passed scientific safeguards, then it was “all well and good” because jobs would be created.

However, this year, in the lead-up to the by-election in the inner-city Melbourne seat of Batman, which Labor could lose to the Greens, his position has hardened. Within a week, he went from being “increasingly sceptical” of the mine, to accusing Adani of promoting “fake jobs”.

When he toured regional Queensland last week, he insisted that, while he was sceptical about Adani’s prospects, he was still ­enthusiastically “pro-mining”.

A spokesman from Mr Shorten’s office said the Labor leader had sought advice from different people on the mine and it was no secret that he was in Queensland in January. “He is deeply sceptical of the Adani mine proposal and if it doesn’t stack up commercially or environmentally it shouldn’t go ahead, but he says Labor doesn’t rip up contracts and we don’t create sovereign risk,” the spokesman said.

Mr Cousins rebuked Mr Shorten for not coming out more strongly on Adani since their conversation last month.

“His response was ‘thank you very much, that’s very compelling and I’ll discuss it with my colleagues’,” Mr Cousins said.

“He has come back and raised certain issues with me since then, but not that one.”

When asked why he broke Mr Shorten’s confidence to go public with their conversation, Mr Cousins said he wanted to put pressure on the Labor leader to make a decision. “It’s pretty clear there is some kind of resistance in his party to him leading on this issue, and he said, ‘I’m going to lead on this issue, I’m going to take the lead’,” Mr Cousins said. “Sooner or later you’ve got to take your heart in your hands if you want to be a leader. All you can do in my position is to try and increase the pressure to make a decision.”

He said Mr Shorten had agreed there was sufficient evidence to warrant revoking the mine licence and the time had come to take action.

“You actually have to face down those people who won’t allow you to lead and say, ‘I’m sorry, this is where we’re going’,” he said.

The Adani project has received all necessary approvals from the Queensland government, but during her re-election campaign in November, Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she would veto a possible federal loan to Adani. It was a reversal of her government’s written promise to facilitate the funding. Since then, Ms Palaszczuk has insisted the mine needs to stand up on its own without taxpayer funding, and has hardened her language around the Indian conglomerate’s $16.5bn Galilee Basin project.

Queensland senator Matt Canavan said Mr Cousins’ comments proved that Mr Shorten’s “so-called listening tour through Queensland was a sham”.

“Bill’s only listening to one group and that is the Greens who can give him preferences to help him win an election,” Senator Canavan said.

“It Geoff Cousins is wrong, Bill needs to come out clearly and support the Adani mine and its jobs or Queenslanders just won’t be able to trust him.”