Premier’s veto blow for Adani

ADANI’S decision to not comment on Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s decision to veto its Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility loan is a concern.

The Premier sent shockwaves around the state, and particularly in the North, when she announced late on Friday afternoon that Labor would veto Adani’s $ 1 billion NAIF loan for the construction of a rail line to its Carmichael mine.

The Premier was spooked after becoming aware her partner Shaun Drabsch was working on the Adani loan application in his role with PwC.

Ms Palaszczuk claimed she was removing any possible suggestion of a conflict of interest by backing out of the approval process.

However, yesterday Ms Palaszczuk stated her decision to veto the loan was delivering on a commitment that “not one single dollar of taxpayers’ money” would go towards the Adani project.

It raises the question: Why did she not state her intention to veto the loan earlier? In May, Treasurer Curtis Pitt said the state would “not stand in the way” of a Federal Government loan for the project after Deputy Premier Jackie Trad had said the Queensland Government would not be a “middle man” for the finance.

Adani has previously stated it is not relying on the NAIF loan to build the rail line, however, the Indian company’s silence on the latest setback will have those relying on the Carmichael mine to deliver much- needed jobs and a major boost for the North’s economy feeling nervous.

Adani has had to jump through many hoops and overcome many obstacles to get to this stage of the project which has seen it set up its head office in Townsville and begin early work on the rail line and mining project. It must be feeling extremely frustrated with this latest turn of events. Adani has shown great resilience and a dogged determination to proceed with the project. The North is now holding its breath, hoping it maintains that persistence despite this latest unnecessary round of uncertainty.