Labor has to hear O’toole
THERE’S no question about Herbert Labor MP Cathy O’toole’s courage.
It’s not the first time she’s challenged her party publicly over the proposed Adani Carmichael mine.
In fact, this time last year, during the by-election campaign in the Melbourne electorate of Longman, where Labor was battling the Greens, Federal Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten berated the Indian mining giant saying Adani was talking about “fake jobs”.
Ms O’toole didn’t miss Mr Shorten and was on the phone to his office the next day telling him people in Melbourne and Sydney shouldn’t be deciding on the fate of North Queensland jobs.
Whether or not she personally believes in the project, Ms O’toole does understand that her fundamental role is to represent the people of Herbert and in today’s Bulletin she’s chosen to send a strong message to her State Government counterparts to stop messing around with North Queensland’s future economic prospects.
It beggars belief the three local Labor State Government MPS, who continue to defend their Brisbane overlords, haven’t the guts to follow her lead. They continue to put their party before the people of this electorate.
There is a deepening rift in the Labor Party and that was abundantly apparent yesterday when Mr Shorten’s mentor Bill Ludwig said a few “lefties” in the Queensland State Government had politicised the Adani project.
His comments were in stark contrast to those of Labor senior frontbencher Richard Marles who claimed the collapse of the global market for thermal coal was a good thing.
In Tuesday’s Bulletin the CFMEU threatened to pull its support from
Federal candidates who didn’t back mining jobs and called on Ms O’toole to get off the fence regarding Adani. She’s responded to their doubts in today’s edition very clearly.
Mr Shorten will now have to do the same.
But the challenge for Federal Labor is that it’s the State Government dragging out the mine approval process that’s turning Adani into a Federal election issue.
It would be unforgivable if Ms O’toole, Labor’s only North Queensland MP, was collateral damage for Deputy Premier Jackie Trad effectively trying to shore up Greens votes in Brisbane.
And it’s unforgivable that the three local MPS don’t support Ms O’toole in her stance.