The progressive thinktank the Australia Institute is stepping up its campaign against the controversial Adani Carmichael mine proposal, publishing an open letter to Malcolm Turnbull questioning the project.
The questions being posed via a full-page advertisement in the Australian Financial Review on Wednesday include whether the Adani mine, if it proceeds, will pay full coal royalties to the Queensland government, or whether the project has been granted a royalty holiday.
The group is also asking whether Adani will pay the full company tax rate in Australia, whether the project will actually generate 10,000 jobs, whether the company will pay for the billions of litres of water it will use and whether the production of “new subsidised coal” will reduce jobs and exports in other parts of Queensland.
The renewed activism against the project follows a commitment by the company on Tuesday to locate a new operational headquarters in Townsville.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the Indian multinational had made a commitment to the state government to employ local workers, not bring in employees on 457 visas.
Federal Nationals and the Queensland state Labor government want the project to be given a concessional loan from the $5bn Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund if that improves the viability of the development.
The government has confirmed this week it is considering lending $1bn towards a 388km railway line associated with the Carmichael mine. On Monday, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, met the Adani Group chairman, Gautam Adani, in Melbourne to discuss the project.
But federal Labor said on Tuesday the project needed to proceed or not proceed on the basis of commercial merit, not subsidy.
“If the Adani coalmine stacks up commercially then we welcome the jobs that it will provide in Northern Queensland,” the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said.
“In terms of accessing taxpayer money through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, we haven’t seen the case made out for that. The deal should stand up under its own commercial merits.”
The Adani Australia chief executive, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, told reporters on Tuesday the company would welcome a concessional loan.
The questions being posed via a full-page advertisement in the Australian Financial Review on Wednesday include whether the Adani mine, if it proceeds, will pay full coal royalties to the Queensland government, or whether the project has been granted a royalty holiday.
The group is also asking whether Adani will pay the full company tax rate in Australia, whether the project will actually generate 10,000 jobs, whether the company will pay for the billions of litres of water it will use and whether the production of “new subsidised coal” will reduce jobs and exports in other parts of Queensland.
The renewed activism against the project follows a commitment by the company on Tuesday to locate a new operational headquarters in Townsville.
The Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, said the Indian multinational had made a commitment to the state government to employ local workers, not bring in employees on 457 visas.
Federal Nationals and the Queensland state Labor government want the project to be given a concessional loan from the $5bn Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund if that improves the viability of the development.
The government has confirmed this week it is considering lending $1bn towards a 388km railway line associated with the Carmichael mine. On Monday, the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, met the Adani Group chairman, Gautam Adani, in Melbourne to discuss the project.
But federal Labor said on Tuesday the project needed to proceed or not proceed on the basis of commercial merit, not subsidy.
“If the Adani coalmine stacks up commercially then we welcome the jobs that it will provide in Northern Queensland,” the Labor leader, Bill Shorten, said.
“In terms of accessing taxpayer money through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund, we haven’t seen the case made out for that. The deal should stand up under its own commercial merits.”
The Adani Australia chief executive, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, told reporters on Tuesday the company would welcome a concessional loan.
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