Mining in unstable landscape
THE Queensland Government continues to have a bob each way when it comes to powering the state through mining.
This month Treasurer Jackie Trad was able to boast a $ 1 billion boost to the Queensland Budget due to an unexpected surge in coal royalties. But it’s hard to reconcile the resource industry’s influence on the economy with the fickle way in which the Government treats it.
During the state election in November last year, Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk unexpectedly removed her government’s support for a Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility loan for Indian mining giant Adani’s proposed rail line for its Galilee Basin project.
The election was expected to be close and the anti- Adani sentiment, particularly in the southeast corner, was weighing on some Labor candidates who had Greens contenders snapping at their heels.
Initially the Premier cited a conflict of interest with her then- partner Shaun Drabsch, who had done consultancy work for Adani, as the reason behind vetoing the $ 1 billion loan. But she and her fellow Labor politicians changed their tune when they started insisting the mega mine would have to stand on its own two feet.
Her government was returned to power and after six months and delivering a budget stacked up by the resources industry, the Premier yesterday said her government was open to considering NAIF applications from miners in the Galilee Basin, so long as it was not Adani and — we can only presume — so long as it’s not in an election year.
The comment had the anti- mining campaigners whipped into a frenzy yesterday but most North Queenslanders would have breathed a heavy sigh and thought “here we go again”. NAIF, which is becoming beyond a joke, is either available to private industry for nationbuilding projects in the North or it isn’t.
The Government needs to decide once and for all whether it’s willing to do what it takes to power this state and to support industry with clear decision making. It can’t continue to have its cake and eat it too.