MPs GO TO WAR ON FIFO
O’Toole accuses Canavan of pushing Rocky barrow
POLITICIANS are feuding over Adan Adani’s fly- in fly- out hub, with Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole accusing Nort Northern Australia Minister Matt Cana Canavan of favouring his hometown of RocA RockhamptonAs the Indian over Townsville.miner considers fier fiercely competitive bids from each city to decide which will be the base for its FIFO hub, the Labor MP has lashed ou out at the Coalition Government over it its record on jobs in the North.
The company announced on Tuesd day it would decide within six weeks.
Ms O’Toole, who has been under fire this week over support for the $ 16.5 million mine, also questioned En- ergy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s position, claiming neither minister had done anything for jobs in Townsville.
“I’m deadly serious about this,” she said. “I have not heard any conversations from Frydenberg or Canavan mention Townsville as the location.”
Ms O’Toole said government “white noise” was distracting people from key issues.
“What’s their view on where the FIFO hub should be?” she said. “We have the expertise and experience and we can house the people.
“As a senator for Queensland, ( Senator) Canavan should be promoting Townsville.
“I’m concerned he’s preferencing Rockhampton because he’s based down there. He hasn’t mentioned Townsville in one single sentence, nor has Frydenberg.”
POLITICIANS are feuding over Adani’s fly- in fly- out hub, with Herbert MP Cathy O’Toole accusing Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan of favouring his hometown Rockhampton over Townsville.
Ms O’Toole, who has been under fire over support for the $ 16.5 million mine, also questioned Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg’s position, claiming neither minister had done anything for jobs in Townsville.
“I’m deadly serious about this,” she said. “I have not heard any conversations from Frydenberg or Canavan mention Townsville as the location.”
Ms O’Toole said government “white noise” was distracting from key issues.
“What’s their view on where the FIFO hub should be?” she said. “We have the ex- pertise and experience and we can house the people.
“As a senator for Queensland, Canavan should be promoting Townsville. I’m concerned he’s preferencing Rockhampton because he’s based down there.
“He hasn’t mentioned Townsville in one single sentence, nor has Frydenberg.”
Ms O’Toole said Mr Canavan also had the opportunity to “be in the ear” of the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility board, which is determining whether Adani will be loaned $ 1 billion for its rail line.
“The NAIF is an independent body – are we going to be very sure that the NAIF will operate in an independent manner?” she said. “My concern is that when you have the Government creating as much white noise as they can, they’re deflecting from themselves.”
Mr Canavan said he had not rallied for Rockhampton.
“All of North Queensland can benefit from this project,” he said. “I encouraged both Rockhampton and Townsville to put in strong bids.
“I support economic development across the North, to get them going you need to put priorities aside. This is a provisional, petty fight.”
Mr Canavan said Ms O’Toole was “desperately trying to distract from her wishywashy support”. “I talk to the board about their pipeline projects but it’s up to them to decide,” he said. “I won’t be picking sides.” A decision for the FIFO hub is expected in four to six weeks, with speculation the service may be halved between Rockhampton and Townsville.
Adani spokesman Ron Watson said the FIFO hub’s location was still being decided.
“Every local, state and federal member is supporting their own city. It would be strange if they didn’t,” he said.
MARCIA Langton was spot on in her recent speech where she said Green groups are hijacking and undermining the interests of Aboriginal people.
She’s correct that “cashed- up green groups, some funded by wealthy overseas interests, oppose mining projects with often- flimsy evidence and misrepresent the evidence to the public” and that they “deliberately thwart the aspirations and native title achievements of the majority of indigenous people by deception”.
On the same day as her speech Greens senator Larissa Waters illustrated the point, authorising a Greens political advertisement opposing the Adani mine. It said “No Finance. No Consent from Traditional Owners. No Way.”
Fact: Adani has agreed six indigenous Land Use Agreements ( ILUAs) with four traditional owner groups – the Juru, Jaeggi, Berrimah and Wangan & Jagalingou ( W& J) native title groups. The W& J ILUA, which was approved by a 294- 1 vote of the W& J native title claimant group, was challenged in court by individual W& J people who oppose the mine. The Federal Court found the vote valid, but said a majority vote wasn’t enough to approve the ILUA. Rather, unanimous approval of W& J native title applicants was required.
Waters is wrong if she thinks there’s “No Consent from Traditional Owners”. Has Waters authorised a false political advertisement? Or should we read it as a demand that traditional owners don’t consent? If so, why are the Greens telling Aboriginal people what they can and can’t agree to?
Propaganda is the hallmark of Far Left and Far Right political groups. The Greens are a Far Left group with a cause. Here the cause is opposing coal.
Green groups also lie when they say coal is on the way out and fossil fuel extraction and power plants will soon be “stranded assets” with wind and solar on the verge of taking over.
Fact: Wind and solar represent less than 1 per cent of global energy consumption. Coal, natural gas and crude oil make up over 83 per cent. Fossil fuel energy consumption has increased massively since the early 1900s, including an increase in coal energy consumption in the past 30 years. These assets are far from being stranded.
Green groups don’t believe coal is in decline. Quite the opposite. In 2011 a coalition of environmental activists produced a detailed strategy for crippling Australia’s coal export industry through legal challenges and public campaigns. It said “Australia is on the verge of an unprecedented coal boom with around 120 proposed new coal mines or mine expansions that, if built, would see a tripling of Australia’s coal exports by the end of the decade”.
Green activism isn’t really about conservation. It’s about stopping all development.
I once issued a public challenge to Green groups to name just one place in Australia where they would approve of a mine or oil or gas exploration. Silence. Everything we touch depends on mining. Obviously metals. Also synthetics and plastics ( produced from petroleum). Even food, plant, textiles and timber production which depend on machines and mined products. If Green groups don’t approve of any extractive industries in Australia, logically they’d have Australia import all natural resources and not export any. They want Australia to go broke.
It’s not just mining. Scratch the surface of Green ideology and you’ll find opposition to farming, infrastructure, processing, manufacturing and any other development. In Australia they feign an alliance with farmers because of mutual opposition to gas fracking and water use for mining. Pastoralists shouldn’t be so naive as to think Green groups don’t have pastoral water use and environmental impact in their sights too.
Green groups consistently oppose projects and developments that create economic activity in remote and regional Australia.
Fundamentally Green groups believe Australia shouldn’t be touched beyond its current level of development. For people in regional Australia this means a very poor economic future indeed. For all Australians in fact. Nyunggai Warren Mundine AO is Chair of the Yaabubiin Institute for Disruptive Thinking. His articles also regularly appear in The Koori Mail.