How to make friends and influence people, via the AFR:
The chances of Indian conglomerate Adani building a giant coal mine in Queensland appear increasingly unlikely, after Chinese financial backing for the project failed to eventuate.
In a blow to the coal lobby and other conservative groups, no Chinese bank has agreed to fund the project while a mooted Chinese engineering partner will also not participate, according to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
The outgoing President of the ACF Geoff Cousins said he had been given these assurances in a letter from the Chinese Embassy in Canberra on Tuesday.
“I think it’s game over for Adani,” Mr Cousins said by phone.
“It just shows the absolute lie perpetrated by Adani that the Chinese had agreed to fund the project.”
Also lobbying to kill-off the controversial coal mine was investment banker Mark Burrows and former Australian foreign minister Bob Carr. Those three made representations to the Chinese Embassy last week and the ACF, said Mr Carr, was currently making representations to financial and political leaders in China.
“I have explained to these Chinese institutions that this project is very unpopular with the Australian people,” Mr Carr said, according to the ACF statement.
He said he was confident there would be no Chinese financing for the Adani mine.
Welcome to your new world order.
