After yesterday accusing GetUp! of “threatening Australian democracy” over the group’s justified opposition to the Adani Carmichael coal project, today the Coalition has labelled them “xenophobic” as well. From The Australian:
Resources Minister Matt Canavan said the Greens and “their friends” in the advocacy GetUp! were engaging in xenophobia and dog whistling about India, home to the mine’s backers Adani.
“It is the worst kind of dog whistling, as worse, if not worse, than One Nation,” he told reporters in Canberra.
The minister also took a swipe at the Queensland state government which has yet to settle on a royalties arrangement with Adani and support for a rail line from the Galilee Basin mine to a shipping port.
“What it’s all delivering is uncertainty and confusion for the people of north Queensland who just want economic opportunity and just want a job and most of all want a Queensland government that can lead,” Senator Canavan said.
Of course, there’s no mention by Canavan that the Adani project would generate just 1,464 direct jobs, according to its own hand-picked economic expert.
There’s no mention that the $1-billion taxpayer provided loan would enable Adani to flood the world with more cheap coal, thus depressing its price and putting unsubsidised mines in NSW and QLD out of business, resulting in job losses.
There’s no mention of the externalities of environmental degradation that would come with this project.
Nor is there is any mention that the 30% tax-payer funding for the project is only being considered because it falls within strong One Nation supported seats.
That is, the Carmichael mine has life only owing to xenophobia. It is racism-pork.
