Adani: Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk withdraws Government involvement in mine funding
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has announced her Government will have “no role in the future” of an assessment of a $1 billion loan to Adani for its Carmichael coal mine.
The Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund (NAIF) is considering an application by the Indian company for concessional Commonwealth funds for a rail link.
Ms Palaszczuk late on Friday revealed her partner, Shaun Drabsch, worked on the application to the NAIF with his employer, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which acted for Adani
She denied there was a conflict of interest and said her decision to exercise her government’s “veto” to not support the loan came as the Liberal National Party (LNP) in Canberra was poised to launch a smear campaign against her in the run-down to the November 25 state election.
“This afternoon I announce that my Government has had no role to date in the Federal Government’s assessment process for Adani — now we will have no role in the future,” she said.
“To action my decision, I propose to write to the Prime Minister to notify him that my Government will exercise its ‘veto’ to not support the NAIF loan — and to remove doubt about any perception of conflict.”
She said the move would not affect the NAIF’s ability to fund Adani, a claim disputed by the LNP’s Tim Nicholls, the Queensland Opposition Leader, and Senator Matt Canavan, Federal Minister for Resources and Northern Australia.
Ms Palaszczuk said Mr Drabsch worked “only at a national level”, and then only after Adani’s mining leases in Queensland were approved.
Advice sought from the Integrity Commissioner, to “avoid conflicts of interest in Shaun’s role and in my job as Premier of Queensland”, had cleared her of any wrongdoing, she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said her partner’s work for PwC was commercial-in-confidence, and so she had not known he was working on the Adani loan application because they had not discussed it.
“I think we have reached a new low in Australian politics,” Ms Palaszczuk told a press conference called late this afternoon, adding:
“I have done everything by the book, my partner Shaun has done everything by the book… and now during an election campaign, they seek to smear his name and my name.”
Ms Palaszczuk said there was a “rumour circulating among LNP senators” who would seek to “impugn my character and suggest something untoward” during the Queensland election campaign.
