Perhaps If We Pay Adani To Take Our Coal Away…
Now, I know that a lot of the discussion on this has been a bit of a distraction. We’ve heard about enviromentalists using the courts to hold up the mine. (Not Margaret… we’re boycotting her!) We’ve heard the wonderful oxymoron “vigilante litigation”. We’ve heard that the indigenous people concerned are completely behind the mine… apart from a few troublemakers. We’ve heard about how we’ll be lifting people in India out of poverty. We’ve heard that Getup! has no right to protest. We’ve heard that the coal miners in the Hunter Valley are concerned that it would lead to a drop in their prices. We’ve heard that our coal is pure and we’re actually helping to reduce carbon emissions with Adani’s mine. We’ve heard about the loan for the railway. We’ve heard about conflicts of interest. And, most recently, we’re hearing that the Queensland Government is ruining everything by its refusal to give Adani a royalty holiday.
But let me, once again, make the obvious point:
Adani will not go ahead because it’s just not commercially viable.
The banks know this. That’s why they won’t finance it. The Coalition can get all hot under the collar and complain that they’re giving in to pressure, but banks have a history of not wanting to throw their money away! (Yes, I know some pedantic person will point out that they haven’t always been successful at this, but, as a general rule, they won’t lend you money if they don’t think that your business will be around long enough to pay them back with interest!)
And, of course, in making this prediction, I am ignoring the likelihood that the Federal government may simply offer them such generous finance that they take it, dig a few holes and then announce that they’ll need more support or else they won’t be able to continue.
If you think about it for just a second, and forget all the other white noise, it becomes obvious. If the project is such a great money spinner, then they wouldn’t need a billion dollar loan or a royalty holiday. It’s not like Adani is some small business with no capital of its own. And, if the project has such great potential, even if they didn’t have quite enough, they could simply borrow the rest…
Oh that’s right! No bank will lend it to them.
Perhaps they could try Cash Converters.
Or you and me. The taxpayers of Australia. We should be able to finance a foreign company to dig up our resources and, in return, they’ll pay royalties as soon as they’ve made a truckload of money.
Yeah, sounds legit!
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Miriam English -
paul walter -
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Miriam English -
paul walter -
Matters Not -
Miriam English -
Hettie Lynch -
Rossleigh -
stephengb2014 -
Miriam English -
Bill -
Johno -
Miriam English
Return to home pageIt’s weird, isn’t it. A billionaire wants our government to pay him to start a financially imprudent mine at a time when coal mines around the world are going broke. Even weirder, our government and Attorney General are willing to do illegal* things to make it possible.
[ * It’s illegal to take away Native Title. Of course, that’s why they want to change the law — to make the illegal legal. Maybe they can make it legal to exceed the speed limit while they’re about it, and a bit of legalised murder too.]
Yes. Adani will go ahead because its not financially viable.
That photo is a bit obscene, a couple of dead end kids playing with a lump of ….
Polish a turd.
Barnaby Joyce always looks drunk in parliament — face flushed, and hooded, glazed eyes.
Sir Les Paterson?
And elsewhere as well. That’s the way he copes. It comes with ‘rural idiocy’. As Karl would say.
Pity his family then. Someone should tell him about AA.
I have experience of having to deal with an alcoholic in the family. Terrible.
They look and act funny… until it becomes a nightmare.
What you say is so true.
However, the current government has convincing form on stupid.
Can any one, anywhere, give any example of just one government action since September 2013 that has demonstrably contributed to the “Peace, order and good governance of Australia” which they are bound by the Constitution and their oaths of office to promote?
I will not accept such things as restoring one third of funding stripped by Abbott from social justice programs as being good decisions.
Suggestions, anyone?
@Hettie Lynch
I’m tempted to say that sending Joe Hockey to the USA has to be considered as a possible achievement…
But then I look at his replacement and I have to say that at least the stupid things Joe used to say gave many people a good laugh, whereas Scottie is both incompetent and boring…
I’ll think really, really hard. There must be something. After all even Mussolini was reputed to have made a train run on time!
On Barnaby’s red face, be aware of rocacea its a skin infection
stephengb2014, weighing up the rather unlikely possibility of Rosacea versus Barnaby Joyce’s propensity for drinking, I think the latter is a more likely explanation. If I’m shown to be wrong I’ll happy change my mind.
I think rosacea tends to concentrate in distinct parts of the face (e.g. cheeks and nose). Joyce’s looks more like drunk face.
I hate to break it to everyone but digging big holes is what we do very well and its lucky we have stuff at the bottom of those holes as we are not investing in EDUCATION. We would rather get a hand out of $800 bucks each from our mate Kevin Rudd(nice bloke I`ve met him).
You are all getting fed lies from green groups funded by USA COAL COMPANIES. About the only way we wont have a recession by this time next year is if Adani and other big corporations continue to dig big holes and send the commodities overseas to pay for our debts. Your house prices will fall if we have a big recession, do you think the green groups will lend you a few bucks???
Barnaby looks like he has just won the lottery or not lost his seat.
Bill, how is spending a billion dollars on a virtually worthless commodity that is more than likely not going to make any money going to help us? There is a worldwide coal glut and coal companies are going broke left, right and center while coal plants are being decommissioned and planned ones cancelled.
I can understand existing coal mines wanting to continue, and while I think that’s short-sighted I can at least understand it. But throwing a billion dollars at a foreign company and giving it a royalty holiday will likely send a number of our existing coal mines broke through unfair competition in a market already swamped with coal.
Much, much better would be to spend the billion dollars on renewable energy that would employ many, many times more people, would reduce the cost of power here, and would give us more marketable skills.
Adani won’t add money to Australia, it will take it away. And it will help to wreck the climate while doing so.