THIS IS OUR WAY Premier convinced that Adani offers big future

SPREAD over 13,500ha, the Adani Group’s Mundra Special Economic Zone on India’s western coast is large enough to encompass multiple suburbs and even entire Australian towns.

On site is one of India’s largest ports, a factory producing thousands of solar panels, two coal- fired power plants and the capacity to handle 100 million tonnes of cargo in a year.

It was here, more than anywhere else visited by her trade delegation to India, that the size of Adani’s operations became clear to Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.

“The scale of the port is something I have never seen in my life,” she said.

“I’ve been to ports in Japan, I’ve been to ports across Australia but the size of this port is a true testament to the Adani Group wanting to work with the Indian community to really progress and do everything they can.

“It has opened my eyes for the need of a huge range of commodities for India to grow their population and to continue to spearhead the economic growth of the Indian population.”

A tour of the facility, including eight mayors from regional Queensland, became the centrepiece for discussions between the State Government and Adani as they look to build momentum for the Carmichael Mine project and have early work underway by August.

For Ms Palaszczuk, the visit is now also set to inspire a new pitch to Queensland voters over the development, with the Premier pledging to create regional jobs while leveraging the company’s potential to help deliver her government’s renewable energy targets.

“I have viewed first- hand the large- scale solar production that is happening. They need coal … but what they have told me … is that coal only makes up 30 per cent of their entire operations,” she said.

“What we’ve seen is one million panels to be produced a year. That’s a lot of solar and my government has a very clear focus on having 50 per cent renewables.

“What we’ve actually heard from Adani is that they will meet their 50 per cent commitment before Queensland. My job as Premier is to get that investment for Queensland.”

But it was not all smooth sailing for the delegation, with businessman and Australian Conservation Foundation spokesman Geoff Cousins approaching the Premier prior to her tour and delivering a petition opposing the mine signed by prominent Australians, including cricket legends the Chappell brothers.

“I hope you saw the letter we sent,” Mr Cousins told the Premier, “The Adani coal mine puts the reef at risk.”

Despite this, Mayor Jenny Hill said she was confident the