Oz state Queensland's premier calls for timeframe on Adani mine project nods

Melbourne: The leader of Australia's Queensland state on Wednesday sought to expedite Adani's controversy-hit coal mine in the country and asked the Indian energy giant to sit down with the environment regulator to work out a "definitive timeframe" to obtain approvals for the project. It comes days after Labor suffered a poor voter turnout across the state in the federal election, which has been widely attributed to the party's position on Adani's Carmichael mine project.

The move also comes after Queensland Government ministers spent weeks saying the Department of Environment and Science (DES) would not be rushed on making decisions.

Adani group entered Australia in 2010 with the purchase of the greenfield Carmichael coal mine in the Galilee Basin in central Queensland, and the Abbot Point port near Bowen in the north. The massive coal mine in Queensland state has been a controversial topic, with the project expected to produce 2.3 billion tonnes of low-quality coal. In addition to its impact on climate change, environmentalists have argued the mine could do serious damage to Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. Another major concern about the environmental impacts of the proposed mine has been that it would wipe out the most important habitat of the threatened black-throated finch.

Speaking at a press conference, Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk announced she would appoint her Coordinator-General to oversee approvals of the mine. "I think that the community is fed up with the processes, I know I'm fed up with the processes, I know my local members are fed up with the processes.'' "I'm asking for the two parties, Adani and the independent regulator (DES) to sit down with the Coordinator-General and I want them to meet tomorrow actually. I want them to sit down and work out a definitive timeframe on decisions around these reports. We're up for this challenge, we work every day focusing on jobs," she added.

"We need some certainty and we need some timeframes enough is enough," she said. Adani is currently waiting on approval of two of its environmental management plans one concerning the black throated finch, the other related to the management of ground water at the site. Last month, the Federal Government granted its final environmental approvals for the project days before the election was called. Adani mining chief executive Lucas Dow said he was cautiously optimistic about the Queensland Government's change of tone.

"I'm encouraged to hear that the Premier's finally said enough is enough, but the reality is what we've now got is simply another process," Dow said. "If these approvals are not provided within the next two weeks, this new process that the Premier has described is simply nothing more than a further political delaying tactic."

Dow said the firm was ready to begin construction as soon as the project was approved. "We think it's more than reasonable that this gets wrapped up in the next couple of weeks the process has been exhaustive, and the scrutiny has been appropriate," he said. PTI