Townsville MPS cop blast over Adani mine

(Adani) so the federal election can happen and they’ll say to (Opposition Leader Bill Shorten) ‘they haven’t started mining so you can pull their licence’,” Mr Brunker said.

“Someone has to give a good reality check within themselves in the State Government and get this project off the road. The man in the street in Townsville and across North Queensland knows that (the State Government is) having a go at us.”

Business owner and Townsville Chamber of Commerce board member Kevin Booth said the local members needed to “go in to bat” for Adani jobseekers and make their position on the mine clear.

“It’s just they’ve been so quiet on the matter as to why this process is taking so long that they just need to get out and explain [it] to people,” he said.

Townsville Enterprise chairman Kevin Gill said it was time to let Adani “get on with it”.

“We have also been very clear that no project should face governments changing the goalposts because that undermines investment confidence for any number of major investments,” he said.

Thuringowa MP Aaron Harper said it was wrong to wedge politicians in the Adani project approval process.

“I’m not going to get into this whole Adani narrative that’s been going on for a number of years because they are simply going through an assessment process with the black-throated finch and still, yet to finish up an underground water assessment,” Mr Harper said.

“This is above politics, people are trying to make it about politics, when it is simply an assessment they have to go through.”

Townsville MP Scott Stewart said he had made representations to the Treasurer and ministers involved during the approval process.