Queensland’s premier moves forward on plan for new coal mine
A STATE government leader intervened yesterday to fast-track a proposed coal mine days after voters rejected tougher action to curb greenhouse gas emissions in Australia’s general election.
The Carmichael mine proposed by India’s Adani Mining in Queensland was a polarising issue ahead of Saturday’s national election, which returned the conservative coalition government for a third three-year term.
The election result defied opinion polls that suggested the centre-left Labor Party would win and implement its policies of slashing Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions by 45% by 2030. The coalition had committed to a target of 26-28% in the same period.
Queensland’s Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she wanted a time frame agreed to by tomorrow to deal with the two environmental hurdles holding up the mine, which promised to create thousands of jobs.
She said her department would intervene by having the state co-ordinator-general attend a meeting today between Adani and the state environment department to set timeframes for the approval of the miner’s plans to manage a local finch population and groundwater.