Labor forced to back down on Adani – dirty deal kills Acland jobs

adani-rally

 

  • Palaszczuk Labor Government forced into embarrassing back-down on new water laws that would have killed the Adani mine and thousands of North Queensland jobs
  • Labor’s dirty deal with crossbench will kill off almost 700 jobs at Acland Coal Mine
  • Annastacia Palaszczuk must explain to Queenslanders why their livelihoods weren’t worth saving from this job-destroying legislation

 

 

The Palaszczuk Labor Government was today forced into an embarrassing back-down on new water laws that could have killed the Adani mine and the thousands of potential jobs for North Queenslanders.

Shadow Minister for Natural Resources and Mines Andrew Cripps said after sustained pressure from the LNP and the resources sector, Annastacia Palaszczuk was forced to concede that her new water laws would open the door to years of legal action against the Adani project.

“Labor’s hypocrisy on the Adani mine has been astounding and they should be condemned for creating untold angst and uncertainty as they pander to the Green movement,” Mr Cripps said.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk has been saying one thing when she’s in North Queensland and doing the opposite when she’s back in Brisbane sucking up to the Greens to keep herself in the job.

“She says she wants the Adani project to proceed, yet she allowed ministers in her Cabinet to introduce job destroying legislation that would tie the project up in green law-fare.

“Why did it taken her so long to end the uncertainty for this important project?”

Deputy Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington said Annastacia Palaszczuk’s hypocrisy on job creation was astounding, having tonight killed off close to 700 jobs at the Acland Coal mine on the Darling Downs as a result of her legislation.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk needs to explain to the employees of the Acland mine and their families – as well as the businesses who have relied on this mine – why their livelihoods aren’t worth saving from this job-destroying legislation,” Ms Frecklington said.

“These laws will plunge the Acland mine into another round of unnecessary environmental assessments, despite it having already satisfied both state and federal environmental laws.

“The LNP fought for a review of make-good provisions in this legislation, to protect the interests of our farmers while ensuring these vital projects aren’t held up – but Labor wasn’t interested.

“Labor was warned of the dire consequences their new groundwater laws would pose for the desperately-needed expansion at the mine – but they didn’t listen and don’t care.

“Without a timely approval for the Acland expansion, the project will literally run out of coal, leaving nothing to mine and further job losses.

“The LNP fought hard for amendments to ensure the Acland mine would not be jeopardised by Labor’s new laws, but Labor did a dirty deal with crossbench MPs and voted instead to kill this important project.

“Annastacia Palaszczuk promised Queenslanders she would create jobs and yet has sacrificed jobs to save her own.”

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