'Weeks, not months': Queensland Premier announces deadline for Adani approvals
Two approvals Adani needs to build its contentious coal mine in the Galilee Basin should be resolved by June 13, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says.
Adani and state environment department officials had met on Thursday to agree on the deadline to finalise the environmental approvals needed for the mine to proceed, or not.
Ms Palaszczuk ordered the meeting after federal Labor's bruising defeat in regional Queensland electorates that want the jobs the mine promises.
Speaking from Cairns on Friday morning, Ms Palaszczuk said she had given the Coordinator-General responsibility for developing the timeline on the approvals.
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"The Coordinator-General has been working his guts out, frankly, and I'm very pleased that all parties have come to the table and have been working with the Coordinator-General," she said.
"So I can advise the following: in relation to the two plans, decisions are due on the following time frames.
"I know initially people thought this was months and what I'm announcing today is it's in a matter of weeks."
Adani confident
Adani Australia chief executive officer Lucas Dow said Adani was not contemplating the project being rejected.
“At this point, we are not expecting any significant surprises,” he said.
He said the company was confident it could have extra information requested by the Department of Environment and Science in place by June 13.
“We have been working at this for the better part of 18 months with the department, hand in hand, so we now look forward to finalise these and get on with it,” Mr Dow said.
“Importantly, the Coordinator-General is going to be publishing a list of other key activities and milestones for the project with dates. So that will provide us with certainty as we move ahead with the project."
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Groundwater debate
Ms Palaszczuk said the news was a "breakthrough" and she thanked everyone for sitting down "in good faith" to resolve the issues.
She said the groundwater plan was dependent on CSIRO and the Coordinator-General having detailed discussions with the CSIRO to meet the time frames laid out.
"We have approved other projects in this state, creating tens of thousands of jobs," she said.
Mr Dow on Friday said Adani had "revisited" the artesian bore trigger levels that alert the mining company to any potential impact of the mine to the threatened Doongmabulla Springs nearby.
"We have now revisited a number of trigger levels to ensure that we have an early warning on any potential impact."
Call for clarity on jobs
The Premier said it was up to Adani to communicate with the people of Queensland on the number of jobs predicted to be created by the proposed mega-mine in the Galilee Basin.
"Mining communities, resource communities want to know that local employment is front and centre," she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said she had spoken with the CFMMEU to work with them on disagreements around the Adani Carmichael mine processes.
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“I had actually a good conversation last night to the national president of the CFMMEU and I talk to people regularly from all different groups and, you know, at the end of the day, they want jobs,” she said.
“They want good, decent jobs for their members but they also want projects that meet the laws of the land.
“Now we’ve got some firm time frames for decision-making to happen in relation to this project, and our laws – the Commonwealth and state – are strict.
“We need to make sure that projects do stack up and the projects that are getting the approvals are meeting the requirements under our laws.”
Rail line and black-throated finch
Mr Dow said Queensland’s Coordinator-General would clarify issues to allow Adani to move ahead with the 200-kilometre rail line it needed to build from its mine site north of Clermont out to Aurizon’s rail corridor to the Abbot Point port.
Ms Palaszczuk said the black-throated finch plan was due by May 31, and the groundwater management plan was due by June 13.
Mr Dow said Adani had provided seven updates to its black-throated finch management study and 11 versions of the important groundwater study to protect the artesian springs near the large mine.
“I must reiterate [the Department of Environment and Science is] the most independent regulator and they will have to make up their own decision.”
On Thursday, Adani said it would take two years after approvals were granted before coal would be dug from the Carmichael mine.
Ms Palaszczuk said the deadlines were set by the Coordinator-General and she would not be drawn on whether she would make a final decision personally if the deadlines were not met.
'Stop Adani' campaign to continue
Stop Adani, the campaign against the major mine, announced it was redoubling its campaign efforts in response to the announcement.
Mackay Conservation Group co-ordinator Peter McCallum said Stop Adani was "not going away".
“The election result is not a mandate for Premier Palaszczuk to ignore science and environmental laws and fast-track plans that put at risk Queensland’s water," he said.
“The delay in Adani’s plans being approved is because they’ve been grossly inadequate."
Trad adamant Adani decision 'needs to stack up'
Deputy Premier Jackie Trad, who nearly lost her South Brisbane seat to the Greens at the last election, still would not definitively say she supported the coal mine.
“This [Adani] is a decision that has been made by the government, I am a member of the government,” she said.
“I think taking action on climate change is incredibly important, but it needs for people of Queensland, people of Australia, to be unified behind what that action is.
“We have always said it needs to stack up economically and it needs to stack up environmentally, and as soon as it does that, then it can proceed.”
– with Tony Moore and Lydia Lynch