And so we come to it. With the G2o swearing onto a strong climate change agenda, markets swearing off coal and the Galilee Basin in particular given its double-whammy environmental risks, the coal market itself in advanced meltdown on gross oversupply and fading demand growth, Gina Rinehart shifting to milk, the last redoubt of coal development is, of course, centrally planned government. From The Australian:
THE opening-up of Australia’s next coal frontier will begin within months, with the Newman government promising to help bankroll infrastructure for proposed mega-mines in central Queensland’s untapped Galilee Basin.
Just a day after US President Barack Obama slapped down Australia for not doing enough to tackle climate change and protect the Great Barrier Reef, it emerged that the state government is offering to kickstart a massive expansion in coal exports to some of the world’s biggest carbon emitters, which include India and China. An in-principle agreement will be announced today for Queensland to invest and take a stake in Indian giant Adani’s $2.2 billion railway line, running from its proposed $16.5bn Carmichael mine in the Galilee Basin to the coal port of Abbot Point.
