Adani and the Queensland election myths and political mayhem

By Truth Seeker

I don’t know about you, but I am really pissed off with the lies, misinformation and generally grubby political games being played by many of the players in this Queensland election.

For starters, I have been prompted to attack the keyboard again – after a fairly long hiatus – as a result of the misinformation and self-serving political games of some of the extreme players and supporters from both sides of the political divide.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will state from the outset that I am dead against the Adani mine, and everything associated with this bunch of tax-avoiding environmental criminals and vandals!

So, with that in mind, let’s look at some of the issues relating to Adani and the Queensland election:

There is lots of hysteria around about Annastacia Palaszczuk, and her “support” for Adani, the Galilee Basin mine and associated infrastructure, and to get this in perspective, you first have to look at the vagaries of Queensland politics and the very tenuous nature of the state Labor government.

1. The Palaszczuk government is a minority government, resurrected from the ashes of the disastrous 2012 Newman election landslide, with the current LNP leader Tim Nichols as his treasurer.
2. With her stunning reversal of Labor’s fortunes at the 2015 election, the state was delivered a hung parliament, but with the support of the independent Peter Wellington, Palaszczuk was able to form government with a majority of one.
3. Wellington then became the speaker, leaving the Queensland government dependent upon support from the Katters Australia party, who are vocal supporters of the Adani mine.
4. Without that support from the aforementioned Katters, the state would revert to the LNPers, and in the early days, the (and I use the term loosely) “Leadership” of the much-despised Laurence Springborg, or the more recent Nerwman’s policy “Mini Me” Tim Nichols, who until recently was regarded as having too much Newman baggage to be taken seriously as leader!

Now, while Annastacia Palaszczuk has publicly declared her support for the mine, and yes, she did go to India to meet with Adani, the alternative for her was to publicly decry Adani, and lose support from the Katters, handing the state over to Nichols who would/will not only publicly support Adani, but would/will actively encourage the company to do anything and everything they want, signing off on any monies proffered by the federal government, along with state funds and our first born children … Anything to get it up and running!

So let’s take a closer look at what her support for Adani entails:

1. At the very start of the campaign, she stated categorically that she will only support the mine, as long it can raise the funds itself, and will not support it financially!
2. She has consistently stated that the proposed Northern Australian Investment Fund support for the $900+ million “loan”, will not be signed off on through the state NAIF office.
3. She is always referring to the “promised” 10,000 – 14,000 jobs, quoted ad infinitum by the LNPers – both state and federal – when we all know – and Adani itself conceded – that the real number would be around 1400 full time positions after the construction phase!

There is also the point made by one of the stupid trolls at The Guardian, where he stated that Annastacia Palaszczuk was against the mine, prior to the election, and then became supportive of it afterwards!  And doesn’t that indicate that there might well be some level of political imperative, in such a dramatic turnaround, at the same time that many of the allegations about Adani’s worldwide operations/indiscretions, and their, to say the least, questionable corporate and financial structures and use of tax havens like the Caymans were just starting to rise to the surface?

There is also the lies told in support of the mine from the federal LNPers who have stated time and again that there are currently over 640 new coal fired power plants either under construction or in the planning stages, which is a gross misrepresentation of the true numbers which are around half that, with more being cancelled almost daily, and the other big lie is that this mine will give power to millions of poor Indians, when the truth is that it will do nothing of the sort, as the “poor Indians” they refer to have no access to a power grid, and these remote communities are already starting to get their power from autonomous solar with battery storage, as it’s by far the cheapest and quickest solution to their energy requirements.

But I digress.

So at this point, it might be worthwhile embarking on a little role-playing journey of; “In her position, what would you do?”

So, let’s set the scene.

You have just effectively won the unwinnable election, relegating the worst possible little narcissist seen in recent history to the political garbage bin after only one term, and are now about to form a minority government with a majority of one, courtesy of the independent Peter Wellington, and with the promised support from the Katters Australia Party, who are regarded as a much closer political fit to the conservatives you just ousted.

Now, your choices are, that:

1. You can take a pragmatic approach to towing the line on the Adani project that you really don’t support, in the knowledge that, on the weight of evidence from the experts and the lending institutions, there’s a pretty good chance that it will never see the light of day, so as to keep the Katters on side, or
2. You can hold to your opposition to the mine, and chance squandering your hard-fought victory and a chance to fix the mess created by the aforementioned little narcissist, as well as allowing the LNPers to wedge you at every opportunity on the promised 10,000+ jobs that will never eventuate, but which will be a major problem for you in FNQ and the regions.

So, the question remains “In her position, what would you do?”

Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, the Palaszczuk government has tried very hard to encourage renewables, with large investments in and strong support for wind and solar, and has tried, albeit in vain, to stop the rabid land-clearing introduced by Newman, which is a huge contributing factor when it comes to polluting the Great Barrier Reef, but their reforms have been constantly thwarted by the Katters.

With all that in mind I would venture to suggest that a Palaszczuk government with an outright majority would be a very different beast from the one that we have seen thus far.

But even if I’m totally wrong – in my assessment of the situation – the one thing that I’m reasonably sure of is that the “spoiling game” that’s being played by the Greens and other vested interests for their own personal and political ambitions, has the very real potential to deliver what most of their supporters would agree is their worst nightmare of an LNP/PHONy COALition government, implementing their own version of a scorched earth policy on climate change, spearheaded by Queensland tax-payers financial support for Adani and the Galilee basin mine, new coal-fired power stations, the degradation of support for renewables and associated jobs, the destruction of the Great Barrier Reef, and the long term loss of tens of thousands of jobs in the tourism industry.

So my appeal to Queenslanders is to exercise some critical thinking. Don’t listen to the plethora of hysterical rhetoric whipped up by self-serving vested interests, and if you love our great state, then turn your backs on Adani and the Queensland election myths and political mayhem …

And put the LNP and PHON last, where they put you! … And vote for Labor, Queensland’s best, if not only chance to send Adani back from whence they came!

This article was originally published on Truth Seekers Musings.

 

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