From the SMH:
Australia’s largest new coal project, one hailed by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as a poverty-busting “miracle”, is unbankable in the assessment of Queensland’s Treasury, which also has question marks over the development’s transparency.
Documents released under Queensland’s freedom-of-information laws show officials at the highest level of the Queensland Treasury held grave doubts about Indian mining company Adani’s capacity to see through its Carmichael coal mine project in central Queensland even as former premier Campbell Newman was promising taxpayer funds to help establish the mine.
…Fairfax Media can reveal Treasury officials warned the former Newman government in Queensland the project was unviable as Adani sought hundreds of millions of dollars in public money to help construct a rail line from the mine to its coal terminals.
The revelations come as the federal government also prepares for a final decision within days from UNESCO’s world heritage committee on whether the Great Barrier Reef should be given a formal in-danger listing.
Hundreds of pages of correspondence from senior figures in the Queensland department, including former under treasurer Mark Gray and principal commercial analyst Jason Wishart, express fears about Adani’s high level of debt and identify the mining giant as a “risk” because of its unclear corporate structure and use of offshore entities.
Farewell comrade Hector…
