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The ‘odious’ Adani coal mine

$1.32 billion / 24.4 jobs = $54,098,361 per job

By Michael Griffin

Concerns about the environmental costs and damage to the nationally and globally significant Great Barrier Reef by the Adani Group’s Carmichael mine in Queensland, the world’s biggest coal mine, have been expressed. Yet the now discredited claims regarding the economic benefits that the mine will create persist. Claims that the mine will create 10,000 local jobs were made during the last Queensland election campaign in an Adani funded television advertising campaign and have since been repeated on numerous occasions by both Federal and Queensland politicians desperate to rally support for the project on behalf of Adani and despite the fact that the claim for the amount of jobs created has now been proven false.

In his January 2015 Report to the Land Court of Queensland, Adani’s own expert, Jerome Fahrer, stated that the claims for 10,000 jobs were ‘deficient’ yet the uncorrected claims for 10,000 jobs and other benefits, including an alleged $22 billion in royalties and taxes generated for the Queensland and Federal governments to spend on ‘social wellbeing’, persist.

In the report, Adani’s own expert, Fahrer, states:

Over the life of the project it is projected that on average around 1,464 employee years of full time equivalent direct and indirect jobs will be created.

The life span of the mine has now been estimated to variously range between 25 years and 60 years and not the 150 years Adani misleadingly claimed in its initial publicity.

To understand the real economic benefits the Adani mine will generate, if any, the statement by Fahrer needs to be unpacked and viewed in the context of the various subsidies, royalty exemptions, waivers of clean-up costs, free water entitlements and low interest loans Adani will receive from the Queensland and Federal Governments – not to mention the loss of tourist jobs caused by the predicted destruction of the reef caused by the mine.

The Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) defines ‘full time equivalent’ (FTE) employment in Appendix A of its workplace metrics webpage in the following way:

The number of full time employees directly employed by the organisation at a point in time. Part-time employees are converted to full-time equivalents.

The APSC website goes on to give the formula by which FTE is calculated. It says:

Number of fulltime employees plus total part-time hours divided by standard full time hours.

To put it simply, the number of part-time hours worked by any employees are combined to make up the equivalent in full time hours and then added to any other full time hours worked and then the total hours are then divided by the standard or legal fulltime hours (38 hours per week or 1,976 hours per year).

It is notable that Adani’s own report does not say that a more modest 1,464 full-time jobs will be created and continuously maintained at all times of the mine’s operation as some politicians now claim is how Fahrer’s statement should be interpreted. But that interpretation is a misconception. Fahrer’s statement clearly indicates that the 1,464 direct and indirect employee years of full time equivalent work the mine will allegedly generate will be created over the whole course of the life span of the mine. This means that the 1,464 total years of work created will be worked across the whole 25 to 60 year life span of the mine and not all at once. If we assume that employees will work fulltime in such a workplace, it is apparent that each year an individual employee works at the mine will represent one employee year and further that, if that same individual employee works for multiple years over the course of the mine’s operation, then that same employee’s further years of employment would also be counted in addition to the first year within the total of 1,464 employee years touted as the total work to be created by the mine over the course of its life.

Hence, a single employee can contribute multiple years of work in the total 1,464 years such that if that same employee works 25 years at the mine then that one and the same employee will contribute 25 of the total 1,464 employee years of work to be undertaken over the course of the mine’s lifetime. It follows that if multiple employees work multiple years at the mine then the total amount of 1,464 employee years can be taken up very quickly by only a handful of full time employees. It is clear that the entire total of 1,464 employee years could be taken up, for example, by 1,464 employees working fulltime for only one year or, alternatively, by half that amount of employees, that is, 732 employees, working full time for two years and so on and so on. In fact, when elaborated over a 25 year lifespan for the mine, the 1,464 years of total indirect and direct work created averages out to only 58.5 employees working a standard full time 38 hour week for that 25 years.

Let’s be clear. To estimate the equivalent full time jobs the mine will create over its life span we simply need to divide the total estimated employee years of 1,464 years work into the years of life for the mine. Thus, If only 1,464 years of work were created by the mine during a 25 year period, then we divide 1,464 by 25 years and we can see that only 58 equivalent full-time ongoing jobs and 1 part-time job of 19 hours will be created by the Adani mine for the whole of that 25 years.

Further, if the life span for the mine is at the upper estimated range of 60 years then the amount of permanent ongoing full time jobs created and maintained is even less. In fact, it would take only 24.4 full time employees to make up the 1,464 years of work over a 60 year life span for the mine. That is, if only 1,464 years of work were created by the mine during a 60 year period then only 24 ongoing full-time jobs and 1 part-time job of 15 hrs and 2 mins would be created and maintained by the Adani mine in that 60 year period.

How such low employment outcomes can be achieved at the mine is apparent from the statements made by Jeyakumar Janakaraj CEO of the Adani Groups Australian operations in the Mining Global online newsletter. These statements are inconsistent with what Jeyakumar Janakaraj claims for the ‘social benefits’, tax generating potential and ‘sustainability’ credentials for the mine. He states that:

We will be utilising at least 45 four hundred tonne driverless trucks. All vehicles will be capable of automation. We will ramp up the mine, everything will be automated from mine to pit. In our eyes, this will be the mine of the future.

In other words, the 10,000 jobs initially promised by Adani, no doubt to secure its initial government permissions and to gain public support for the massive project, was never an honest claim and was always a defective estimate. The mine and its port will provide nominal benefits to the local communities and the nation in which it is situated. Between 24 and 58 jobs fulltime jobs at best for a public spend of $1.32 billion is far from a good result for the public. As these jobs are likely to be in robotics, IT and computer based it is most unlikely that Adani will find any local workers within proximity of the mine site with the experience and skills to perform the jobs created. Moreover, Australians will be stuck with cleaning up the mess Adani leaves behind when it eventually evades its responsibilities, with a destroyed natural wonder and with the loss of the 70,000 tourism jobs that the reef would have generated over the life span of the mine.

Furthermore, the use of the words ‘full-time equivalent’ by Fahrer leaves it open to conclude that many, if not all, jobs created by Adani at its mine will be part time or casual but when combined together the hours worked in those casual and part time jobs will add up to a total of 1,464 years of work.

Even more intriguing is the fact that Fahrer also uses the words ‘direct and indirect’. This means that not all of the meagre 24 to 58 jobs created over the years of operation will be at the mine site or locally placed as they will be off site ‘indirect’ jobs servicing the mine. These jobs could be at some distance from the mine site and far outside the local area and would thereby provide little opportunities and social benefits to people in communities in proximity to the mine.

What person in their right mind who genuinely has the interests of their fellow country-men at heart could seriously consider such an arrangement?

One would expect that, before politicians start touting the benefits of a project and contributing vast amounts of public assets and funds to it, they would, at least, try to understand what Fahrer’s statement actually means. A reasonable person would think that such an understanding would be mandatory when the amount sought to be committed to the project is public money in the order of over $1.32 billion dollars. That amount is made up of a $1 billion low interest loan of federal public funds, a maximum of $320 million in foregone Queensland state royalties and a licence to effectively drain an underground aquifer dry by the extraction of 297 billion litres of precious groundwater and a further 12 billion litres of river water from the local rivers free of charge while requiring the return of only 6 % of that water to the environment. The amount does not include the loss of interest incurred by the Government due to the low interest rate on any loan that could have been made at a higher rate to a more beneficial and profitable enterprise and nor does it include the loss of tourist jobs due to the inevitable degradation and destruction of the reef. Nor does it include the losses incurred by the agricultural sector by the loss of water and farming land.

For any politician to make a decision on a project involving the high level of public expenditure and the inevitable environmental destruction as this one involves without having a full understanding of the costs and benefits of the proposal, would not only be an act of gross irresponsibility, it would also result in a decision made contrary to the national interest and to the doctrine of responsible government imposed by The Constitution. Moreover, it would also indicate that the government officials and politicians who made the decision are incapable of simple arithmetic and unfit to govern and occupy the positions they do.

A simple and limited cost/benefit analysis of the Adani mine, taking into the account only the jobs created and the amounts of public funds involved – made up of the billion dollar low interest loan from the public purse and  the $320 million of forgone Queensland state royalties initially contemplated – indicates that the effective subsidy from the public purse for each job created by the Adani mine far exceeds that given to the high employment generating motor vehicle manufacturing industry which subsidy the LNP withdrew causing the ongoing loss of 200,000 jobs into the future.

Doing the sums it becomes clear that the effective subsidy for each of the 24.4 jobs created by the mine over a 60 year life span would be $54,098,361 for each job over that 60 year period. Yes that’s a whopping $54 million and almost $1 million per year for each job over 60 years! The subsidy for each of the 58 jobs created by the mine over a 25 year life span would be $22,758,620 for each job over the 25 year period. That is, nearly $1 million per job per year for 25 years! And, as mentioned, this analysis does not take into consideration the other mining subsidies, tax deductions, waived water licence fees or loss of jobs in the tourist industry that Adani operation will no doubt cause or obtain from compliant state and Federal government officials incapable of understanding simple arithmetic. Such huge sums for so little gain cannot be justified by even the simplest cost/benefit analysis.

Even when the more recently announced reduced level of Queensland state royalty deferment is taken into account in place of the initial $320 million initially touted, the amount of effective subsidy to Adani using assets belonging to the  Australian people, the project and its benefits do not stack up go scrutiny.

The expenditure is not in the national interest and is contrary to the doctrine of responsible government in The Constitution. Such spending would be an unacceptable risk to public finances and, should the decision to advance the subsidies and concessions be made favourably to Adani in these circumstances, that decision would constitute a compete dereliction of duty, would be completely irresponsible and would constitute reprehensible government conduct.

Any politician who thinks the Adani mine project is worthwhile on the figures so far publicised or who fails to understand a simple cost/benefit analysis of the project, is clearly blessed with a degree of idiocy making them unfit to be entrusted with any responsibility in the government of a nation. It would clearly be bad economic management to advance, forego and waive such large amounts for so little gain.

In conclusion, it is useful to consider that there is an international law doctrine referred to as the doctrine of ‘odious debt’. This doctrine of odious debt holds that debt incurred by a government in the name of the people but that was not spent for a legitimate purpose for the benefit of the people is voidable and liable to be paid personally by the members of government who caused the debt to arise. Given the debt the LNP claim Australia is facing and their endless borrowings through unnecessary bond issuances that increases that debt, their waste of public funds on unproductive programs and their corporate tax cuts – all of which reduce the nation’s capacity to pay its debts – the Australian public would do well to consider applying the doctrine of odious debt to Turnbull and Palaszczuk and their neo-con parliamentary cronies in order to have them personally pay any amounts they have wastefully advanced to Adani back to their respective treasuries for repayment of debt that Australia and Queensland would not have incurred but for their exceptionally poor economic management, judgement and irresponsible, irrational and biased decision making.

62 comments

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  1. David

    The only way the Adani project would support 10000 jobs would be if 9900 blokes are given a shovel to clean up all the bullshit that is surrounding the fiasco, and another 100 to carry the brown paper bags. Commonwealth ICAC NOW.

  2. Roscoe

    it would be good to see the politicians held personally responsible for the debt, it would only have to happen once and we would see a lot better governance from the clowns

  3. Kaye Lee

    FTEs are “at a point in time.” I read it as saying, on average, there will be at any point in time, 1,464 people directly or indirectly employed (after converting part timers). I still think it is bullshit and will never happen but just trying to clarify the claim.

  4. Kronomex

    A sycophantic crawling to and donations (and other kickbacks I expect) from billionaires and corporations is the trademark of the LNP and some cases Queensland Labor. Both parties wonder why their standing is pretty much in the gutter…gee, I wonder why?

    10,000 jobs sounds so much more impressive than the, maybe, real figure of 1,500 and of that amount how many will be 457’s?

  5. Johno

    Odious is an gross understatement.

  6. Terry2

    Interesting how they always use inflated job numbers to push their case. This morning we are hearing that the Acland mine extension, having been knocked back by the Lands Court in Queensland, means the potential loss of over 1000 jobs.

    Perhaps a little more truth about actual, guaranteed, ongoing jobs would be helpful in these discussions.

  7. Johno

    Terry2
    Sentiments exactly !

  8. Keith

    Kronomex

    Federal Labor also receives substantial donations from fossilil fuel companies; though, not to the same degree as the LNP.

    Many politicians say they are Christians; they would know very well the story of Judas. Climate change kills people; the increase in greenhouse gases in the atmosphere will create extra warmth making it possible for greater extreme events to kill even more people.
    I hope the major parties are happy with their few pieces of silver provided by fossil fuel companies.

    It was Bill McKibbon from 350.org who stated after revelations of how Exxon Mobil and other fossil fuel companies had been paying odious Agencies such as Heartlands and other denier groups to send out alternative facts; yet, scientists employed by Exxon Mobil in the 1970s believed in anthropomorphic climate change. Bill McKibben taking this into account suggested that the crime of not the century, but probably the crime of the epoch has been committed.

    We can now say that our politicians from the major parties are in on the probable crime of the epoch.

  9. wam

    You are missing the long term aim of the labor government. They have insider knowledge that clean coal technology is just a few years away. So this is an important investment in the indian economy and if it goes bust then an Indian businessman will be embarrassed to have cost us a few billion but we are a rich country so who cares about any collateral damage. Meanwhile lets get on with the repeat of 2014.
    Media: Australian content anyone?
    Jobs??
    Oh! you mean real jobs?
    That depends on the growth that comes from downsizing, amalgamating and redundancy.
    Followed by takeovers, sacking.
    Then the re-hiring of workers for new jobs at reduced wages.
    QED political job maximisation and a self-satisfied pollie lauded by the vested interest media.

  10. helvityni

    If we keep mining coal, we must also be prepared to ask later: where have all the flowers gone..(or fish, birds… what happened to our environment, to the lungs of our miners)?

    Marlene Dietrich asked after the war: Sagt mir wo sind alle Blumen hin ? The girls picked them to put them on the graves of soldiers, who did not return home….

    When will we ever learn, she asked, and we can ask the same question right now…

  11. paul walter

    Dunno..told elsewhere this is nonsense and Carmichael is a modern miracle.

    Is this a new format or is just my computer again? Already having trouble with FB.

  12. Ross

    Thank you for the mathematics lesson Mr Griffin.
    I smell a rat, nobody in their right mind would believe the job figures bandied about anyway.
    The banks won’t touch this project, most economists call it a stranded asset, the polls say the public don’t want it for it’s affect on the Barrier Reef and the price for coal is on a long downward spiral.
    The Carmichael mine is a white elephant if there ever was one, it just does not stack up economically or politically. It stinks.
    So why are our beloved politicians pushing this barrow so hard?
    Further investigation into the Billion Dollar loan for the rail line itself may provide the answer.
    As the old saying goes ”it’s not over until the fat lady sings”.

  13. Hettie Lynch

    While I completely agree with your calculations, Michael Griffith, I am appalled by the extent of your unnecessary and indeed obfuscating verbiage.
    Why not state it simply?
    1464 job years. (Round up to 1500 for simple maths.)
    Projected life of the mine, 30 years.
    1500÷30=50.
    Therefore, the Adani abomination might be expected to support 50 full time jobs or the part time equivalent for 30 years.
    There is a high likelihood that the Great Artesian Basin will be heavily contaminated and the waters drained irreparably.
    Any profits will go offshore. Little or no tax will be paid in Australia.
    The project is not financially viable.
    Nobody wants the coal.
    Burning the coal will destroy the planet’s livability.
    The company’s history suggests that no remediation will be done
    By contrast, the Great Barrier Reef, which would be utterly destroyed by this project, supports some 69,000 jobs into the forseeable future.
    The economic activity from the Reef stays mostly in Qld.
    Tax is paid in Australia.
    The businesses have a vested interest in supporting the environment.
    See. Short and to the point.

  14. Trish Corry

    Aurizon just announced they are shutting down Rockhampton railway workshops. I hope those gloating and smirking at destroying jobs in this region, can show a little humility and compassion towards our region at this time. Otherwise the same people who cry outrage about unemployment and the basics card and wealth inequality really need to check themselves.

  15. Halfbreeder

    Kaye Lee. the point in time is arbitrary. the point in time could be the whole life of the mine which is what Fahrers report states…the 1464 jobs are created over the whole life of the mine the whole life of the mine is the point in time

  16. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    Hettie Lynch. short and to the point sure but otherwise a boring piece full of figures that ordinary people would not read. the benefit of this piece is it explains things for the ordinary folk who vote.

  17. Freethinker

    Typical economics, 26 permanent train crew positions will be phased out or replaced by contractors at other bases.
    “Aurizon needs to continue to change in line with what our customers need if we are to remain competitive,” Mr Carter said.
    “As a result of changing customer demand” the company says it proposes to move to more flexible train crewing operations in Central and North Queensland and undertake a staged closure of its rolling stock maintenance workshop in Rockhampton.
    Typical, people are numbers and the environment a playground.
    .I hope that these that put the blame on “those gloating and smirking at destroying jobs in this region” will open their eyes and stop thiking like the Coalition politicians that just blame unions and environmentalists.
    As longs as people do not get the facts right One Nation will get more votes.

  18. Freethinker

    Just to add: Manager salaries at Aurizon can range from $144,828-$209,384. This estimate is based upon 2 Aurizon Manager salary report(s) provided by employees or estimated based upon statistical methods.
    Bonus $38,284 – $41,263 which will increase thanks to retrenching people.

  19. Matters Not

    I find articles written by Michael Griffin always of interest. In particular, I remember the one that opened with:

    The Liberal National Party (‘LNP’) Welfare Card programme is really a LNP rort for the benefit of the Liberal and National Parties and their members, donors and supporters. Indue Pty Ltd, the corporation awarded the contract to manage the Welfare Card programme and to operate its underlying systems, is a corporation owned by Liberal and National Party members and that donates to various Liberal and National Party branches ”’

    https://theaimn.com/lnp-welfare-card-true-facts-exposed-corruption-disguised-philanthropy/

    Apparently it was all about true facts. In the light of subsequent developments, I am never sure what meaning to give to Michael’s particular and peculiar true facts ever since.

  20. Aussie Pride

    If you can’t tell Adani is a really bad deal, being pushed by the ignorant and criminal, there’s no hope for you. This deal will steal billions from Australians and line the pockets of those elite criminals. When has it ever been other wise? Don’t trust a word they say. Trust your gut instinct. These people are unfit to rule. They are either sociopaths or ignorant idiots. Perhaps a little of both. Either way..didn’t your parents warn you to stay away from bad people!! Adani is in so much debt, they’ll rezone the land asap and sell off making a fortune, or some other creepy criminal scam as is the Liberals trademark. Let’s not forget the creepy ‘clean coal’ push and now wham out of nowhere, the other day..surprise surprise the Liberals want to steal the taxpayers money again for clean energy grants and give it to their buddies in coal. Can it get any more obvious guys? They have sold our country out and destroyed peoples lives for their selfish greed. I pray karma is an unforgiving bitch for our political criminals. The damage they have done to this country and it’s people is sickening. Not an inch of integrity, nor civic responsibility. Zero accountability. Don’t believe a word they utter.

  21. Aussie Pride

    Federal iCAC now!

  22. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    matters not are u saying the facts relied upon by michael in this adani piece are ‘fake’? if so how is that when he merely uses well publicised details like the extent of the various subsidies, adani’s own statements and claims about jobs? please indicate which of the facts he relies upon are untrue?

  23. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    matters not. seems to me michael is only using information that is already in the public domain not concocting anything. your criticism is nonsensical and frankly idiotic. (as are most of your posts)

  24. paulwalter

    Trish Corry, wtf has a private company (?) closing down the railways workshops at Rockhampton to do with Adani, apart from perhaps suggesting that the dollars fed to Adani might have been better spent at Rockhampton.

    Blame whoever is running aurizon, not informed people protesting the Adani mess, or even the the ALP govt unless it is a government decision, eh?

  25. Michael Taylor

    Paul, the above comment if yours was in our deleted folder. I assumed that the system put it there due to the link with it, so I released it. However, if you put it there yourself, then I have egg on my face. Let me know.

  26. paulwalter

    Michael, l wanted to include a particular post concerning the leaking of the Adani slush pit at Rockhampton into the Reef, but all the link did was set up the Australian Conservation Foundation’s FB page in its entirety.

    Big corporations seem to have a history of big leaks of crap into waterways (eg BHP and the Amazon) yet we are told over and over again by Big Mining advocates that such solid citizens wouldn’t dream of building substandard infrastructures just to scrounge a few extra bucks,
    say for executive bonuses.

    After all, the lesson was learned after Deepwater Horizon and later Fukushima….wasn’t it?

  27. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Well done Michael Griffin,

    for making the sound argument of why the Adani mine is economically unsound and unfounded and why the Adani Carmichael Mine must be abandoned for economic reasons and especially environmental reasons.

  28. Paul Kruger

    No mention of further corporate welfare, which will be hundreds of millions of dollars or more, in the form of fuel subsidies, etc!

  29. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    women who advocate for more females in parliament should remember this. Palaszczuk is a female ( i think). what is the benefit of putting more females in parliament given their track record of women so far?

  30. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    the schoolmasteresque matters not making irrelevant hit n run troll like comments without substance again.

  31. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    What are you smoking, OPPOSE THE MAJOUR (sic) PARTIES?

  32. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    Jennifer Hill Townsville Mayor supports the mine and propagates the false claim that it will sustain 1,464 fulltime jobs at all times of it operation. just another example of how inept politicians are either failing to understand the facts involved and meaning of the statements so far made or deliberately and knowingly propagating falsities to assist adani and their own political careers. also notably another female politician. yet another female in the crowded parthenon of right wing politicians. females seem to gravitate to the right side of politics and they dont have much of a record in terms of social policy. strike one up for the neo con female club with the morose female Qld premier.

  33. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    Jennifer meyer smith. ‘MAJOUR ‘ is correctly spelt. consult a quality dictionary..

  34. Freethinker

    Oppose The Majour Parties, your comments based on the sex of a politician lose any interest to debate with you.

  35. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Palaszczuk and Jennifer Hill deserve criticism because of their neoliberalist oppression, environmental negligence and sycophantic adoration of rich people with lots of bucks but NOT because they are female.

  36. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    some people on this site have been advocating reserved positions in parliament for women because they say females make better more caring decision makers. in other words women should be promoted and prefered to men. on the facts available, that point of view is without substance. both
    Palaszczuk and Jennifer Hill are ALP politicians advanced thru that parties affirmative action for women politicies. what a disaster for the ALP and women. yet more neo con right wing females to join the ranks of the female politicians hall of shame. u dont change society by changing the gender or identify of the positions in the structure u change it by changing the relationships of the positions in the structure or the functions performed by those positions. more females in parliament has so far proved a disaster

  37. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    freethinker. u r free to put ur head back in the sand at anytime u want. i couldnt give a stuff. the fact is the most ardent supporters for this mine are female politicians. Why?

  38. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    lets elect hillary clinton because she is a female and ignore the fact she is a callous murderous war monger. that what we are all expected to swallow is it?

  39. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Guess what Oppose The Majour Parties (or OTMP for short),

    I’m one of those people, who considers it is essential to have affirmative action and quotas for women’s representation at every level of decision making throughout our society.

    OMG! The sky’s falling!

  40. Matters Not

    Palaszczuk … ALP politicians advanced thru that parties affirmative action for women politicies

    Wrong! And in spades. (Detail provided on request.)

  41. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Well since OTMP hasn’t asked, MN,

    I do

  42. Matters Not

    JMS, here’s a few things to ‘consider. And as always, give what meaning you may. ‘Once upon a time there was a politician named Heinrich “Henry” Palaszczuk. In 1984, he became the Member for Archerfield until 1992 when he then became the Member for Inala. Inala became the safest ALP seat in Queensland State politics. Henry held the Inala seat with comfortable margins until he resigned in 2006. While he wasn’t ‘brilliant’ he could certainly ‘count’ and had a mountain of support at the Branch level.

    One of his four daughters Anastacia also had a passion for politics. She worked for a number of ALP Cabinet Ministers over a number of years. (As an aside, so did a certain Ron Watson who Anastacia ‘knew’ quite well.) When Henry retired a preselection followed. Nothing remarkable in that. Anastacia won comfortably. It was NOT due to ‘affirmative’ action. Certainly Henry’s support was crucial but Anastacia presents rather well in her own right. Academically she is very well qualified. As Wiki records: She has degrees in Arts and Laws from the University of Queensland, a Masters of Arts from the University of London (where she was a Chevening Scholar), and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice from Australian National University. *In short the *affirmative action accusation is nonsense. Her qualifications are outstanding.

    As to how Anastacia became the Leader of the Opposition might also be of interest. When it became fairly certain that Newman would win in a landslide, there was much speculation in the ALP as to Bligh’s successor. Most of the smart money was on the Member for Sandgate – Vicky Darling the then Minister for the Environment, Resource Management and Climate Change. (Vicky’s mother, Elaine Darling, was once the Member for Lilley in the Federal Parliament who ‘made way’ for Wayne Swan. And why she did so, the ‘incentives’ offered and so on will probably remain forever a ‘mystery’ for the vast majority. Political ‘debts’ created, then ‘called on’ and all that). But Vicky Darling was also swept away in that landslide.

    Thus Ms Palaszczuk got the (default) nod. And as they say the rest is history

  43. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    My feeble mind thus sums up that Anna came from established Qld Labor blood but she had guts too to attempt to carry on her interpretation of what nice Labor can do for alternative people to the likes of f*ckface Newman and Bjelke-Petersen descendants looking for a legs up too.

    Palaszczuk chucks a wobbly which is a sellout in any true everlasting Labor mind.

    Her sellout on the Great Barrier Reef makes her deserve electoral penalties (not necessarily defeat but I won’t be sorry if that is the outcome) in whatever way they come.

    Palaszczuk has committed disgusting abuse.

  44. Mick Byron

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    I find your comment intriguing and if I must say not particularly well thought out
    “not necessarily defeat but I won’t be sorry if that is the outcome) in whatever way they come.”
    So you” won’t be sorry” when Labor is defeated and replaced by a likely LNP/Phon balance of power State Government?
    Could you enlighten us on the joy you may feel from the likely LNP/PHON Alliance and the improvement to quality of life they may bring and the advantages from them that isn’t achieved from Labor

  45. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Mick Byron,

    Palaszczuk is coming across as having the same moral and intellectual deficiencies despite her Qld Labor pedigree. Puts her opposition to anything that Newman or Bjelk-Petersen could have thrown at you in a bit of a different light.

    The rest of us have been watching for 4 decades so don’t pretend you have been unobserved and Palaszczuk is the underdog coz she ain’t.

    She is the beneficiary and the Great Barrier Reef could be her first sacrifice.

  46. Mick Byron

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    “The rest of us have been watching for 4 decades so don’t pretend you have been unobserved ”

    That most certainly forces me to ask, Please Explain?

    And you didn’t answer about “Could you enlighten us on the joy you may feel from the likely LNP/PHON Alliance and the improvement to quality of life they may bring and the advantages from them that isn’t achieved from Labor”

  47. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Mick,

    just re-think your allegiances and you might understand the grander plan.

  48. Mick Byron

    Jennifer Meyer-Smith
    You’d better explain to me the “grander plan” and just what do you know of my “allegiances”?

  49. Matters Not

    JMS, I was, perhaps, only responding to the claim that Ms Palaszczuk was somehow gifted her position via affirmative action.

    She wasn’t!

    As to the whys and wherefores of subsequent developments, then that’s a whole different discussion.

    Here’s a quote to consider: Only the impotent are pure. And if you don’t know who said that then …

    Palaszczuk simply doesn’t have too many political options. She’s more than likely to be confined to the dustbin of history. Have more understanding? More insight?

  50. Jennifer Meyer-Smith

    Your allegiances are obvious and the grander plan is considerably more than what Qld Labor is offering the electorate and wider Labor electorate as a whole.

    Call me what you like Mick, but Labor in Qld and AUS full stop needs an injection of Greens’ principles, philosophy and politics.

    Get the 3 Greens P’s included and you’ll be fine.

    ……………………..

    MN,

    under normal circumstances, I would fall over myself to provide redress for the underdog which Anna pretends to be.

    But not this time. Anna has power and she has decided to misuse it to favour her political benefactors against the Great Barrier Reef.

    Utterly deplorable. I’m disgusted.

  51. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    Odious Debt? Looks like the international law doctrine of odious debt might have been properly referred to in this article and might come into play after all. If the LNP commit the Australian people to a guarantee to financial institutions who lend to Adani and Adani directs its profits outside Australia to its Cayman companies and goes broke, the Australian people will be left holding the debt and the LNP will claim a deficit in order to cut services and entitlements further. The LNP and its members should pay that debt not the Australian people. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-10-26/bureaucrats-to-be-grilled-over-adani-funding/9086262

  52. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    ‘Not many jobs’ in Adani! Christensen & LNP propagating the Adani jobs myth.This article confirms it.

    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/business-spectator/fact-check-will-adanis-coal-mine-really-boost-employment-by-10000-jobs/news-story/903c1932738b1d1a1763c74e45f4d7c7

    “But the key difference between the numbers is not the size of the mine, but the method of modelling used to assess them. The method used to estimate the 10,000 figure was described by Fahrer as “deficient”. The Productivity Commission says it is regularly “abused” and the ABS says it is “biased”. To be clear, Adani’s own economist rejected the 10,000 figure under oath, and said in court of the project’s impact on employment:

    ‘It’s not many jobs. We can agree on that’.

    With the broad context covered off, what does this mean for the specific assertions made by Christensen?

    Christensen assertion: [the 1,464 figure] “doesn’t include workers needed for the construction phase”.

    This is incorrect. The 1,464 figure is the average increase in employment ACROSS THE PROJECT LIFE, so it does include those workers in the early years, as well as years where employment is much lower.”

    This mine and the TTP will be the biggest corporate frauds in the history of your country.

  53. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    But even this is incorrect: “The 1,464 figure is the average increase in employment ACROSS THE PROJECT LIFE”, The journo who wrote the article linked in the post above hasn’t read the statements carefully enough. The estimate is for 1,464 EMPLOYEE YEARS over the life of the mine. That is how many total years of work will be put in by multiple workers over the life of the mine. If 1464 workers work one year at the mine, then the 1464 work years would have been achieved. If 732 employees work two years at the mine, then the 1464 employee years would have been achieved in those two years. As the life of the mine is 60 years those 1464 employee years must be spread over that 60 years. Hence, the number of jobs created by the mine will be the equivalent of 24.4 full time jobs at any given point in time. Like Gina Reinhardt’s Ross Hill mine, it will be fully automated and, hence, there will few, if any, jobs. The jobs claim for Adani is a con.

  54. OPPOSE THE MAJOUR PARTIES

    Adani’s deception is now a provable lie. The Townsville Council has sacked 140 workers to pay for the Adani Airstrip and more sackings are to come. Even the Adani promise of 1,464 jobs is proving to be not just a grand deception but an outright lie. The Adani report says its Carmichael Mine will create 1456 equivalent direct and indirect work years over the life of the mine NOT 1464 ongoing fulltime jobs. What that means is that only the equivalent of 1,464 working years will be worked at the mine in total over the entire 60 yr work life of the mine. Divide 1464 work yrs by 60 yrs and you get about 25 full time jobs for the whole life of the mine not 1464. The mine will be fully automated. What these sackings by Townsville Council mean is that total jobs created by the Adani project is already reduced by 140 and there is more to come . The politicians making decisions about the mine have not understood the report. They do not understand what ‘equivalent work years’ means. They are totally inept and incompetent.

    http://www.news.com.au/finance/business/mining/townsville-council-redundancies-fund-185-million-contribution-towards-an-airstrip-for-adanis-carmichael-coal-mine/news-story/9e76a61f59714797c6c620d7e7bce863

  55. paul walter

    This is in response to Trish Corry and the financing/closing of the railway yards?

  56. corvusboreus

    OTMP,
    Thank you for the steady stream of input and accompanying information you have offered on this topic, particularly your last post regarding the regional jobs and services that have already been sacrificed in order to subsidise out of area infrastructure principally benefiting the future operations of a financially shifty and environmentally rapacious foreign corporation.
    It seems the people of Townsville will just have to tighten their belts and put up with a few more potholes.

  57. OPPOSE THE MAJOR PARTIES

    Adani fake jobs. Were the voters of central and nthern Qld taken in by the false claims for jobs by Adani mine by LNP politicians this election?

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