Good grief. From Jabba Christensen today:
Though many in the nation have been misinformed and misled by a well-funded green activist campaign with documented links all the way back to the Clinton camp in the US, the key fact of the matter is this: a successful Adani Carmichael coal project, which includes the rail corridor to Abbot Point, would breathe economic life back into north Queensland.
My colleague senator Matt Canavan has pointed out that this rail corridor is set to unlock the first new coal basin in Australia since the Pilbara and the Bowen Basin were opened up in the 1960s.
There are predictions of more than 15,000 direct jobs in the Galilee Basin, with more to come. I know that local tradies are waiting with bated breath, vehicles and toolboxes at the ready.
A productive Galilee could then be complemented by the next great step for north Queensland in the form of a new state-of-the-art coal-fired power station.
If you have seen recent advertisements run by the Minerals Council of Australia, you’ll have a clearer picture of what the future holds. New stations up and running in Japan are compact and very clean, far removed from those built decades ago.
The additional employment and industry that would flow into north Queensland to take advantage of cheap baseload power would complete our transformation from struggling recovery to economic powerhouse.
Do you live in Queensland or Australia, Mr Christensen? The Adani mine is completely uncompetitive, which is why is needs subsidy to get up. Given NSW coal mining is the global marginal cost producer and the market is flooded with supply, Adani will only serve to close more efficient mines in NSW as it pushes prices ever lower.
As well, the coal-fired power station will do nothing to lower electricity prices because it is gas that is driving them higher not coal.
But today’s hilarity does not stop there. Oh no:
Embattled steelmaker Arrium has potentially been thrown a lifeline with Indian multinational Adani choosing it to supply more than $70 million in steel for the railway that will link Adani’s proposed Carmichael coal mine to the Queensland coast.
It is understood Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Resources Minister Matt Canavan will be in Arrium’s home town of Whyalla in South Australia on Thursday for the announcement in which Adani will contract for Arrium to supply 56,000 tonnes of steel worth $73 million over two-and-a-half years.
This will be enough for 800 kilometres of rail for the 400km railway. Arrium administrator KordaMentha is in the final stages of a lengthy sales process for the Arrium Australia assets which include the Whyalla steelworks, a nearby iron ore mine and a steel distribution and mini-mill business on the eastern seaboard of Australia.
So we now have a triptych of Nats nutters brokering deals to pick winners in coal and steel and deliver three stranded assets in one go with public dough just so they can save Jabba Christensen from One Nation.
Can we, just like for once, have a functioning market framed by economics 101 in this country.
