A fight has broken out between Adani and Labor leader Bill Shorten over how many jobs Adani’s Carmichael mega coal mine would create.
Yesterday, Bill Shorten suggested Adani was promising “fake jobs”:
“It would appear that Adani hasn’t managed to convince a single Australian bank to help finance this operation”…
“(Adani) time after time keep saying that they’re going to have this project up and running and they miss a deadline”.
“I’m beginning to wonder if the people of North Queensland are being led on with the promise of fake jobs and they’re never going to materialise”…
“Labor has always said if the deal stacks up, commercially and environmentally — that has been our position”…
“Now, I actually think that the more you look at it, the fact that the banks won’t back it in, the fact that there’s always seems to be new environmental issues — that’s the problem.”
This drew a strong rebuke from Adani, which stuck to its claim that the Carmichael project would generate 10,000 “direct and indirect jobs”:
The spokesman said Adani Australia remained “committed” to the Carmichael project and “looked forward to a time” when more people in places like Townsville could join the team.
“Over the life of the Carmichael Project, Adani Australia will create 10,000 direct and indirect jobs,” he said.
“Those are jobs with Adani, with our contractors and in the supporting mining industry and community businesses like supermarkets and petrol stations where our employees and contractors spend their money.”
10,000 jobs, hey? Not according to Adani’s own hand-picked economic expert, Jerome Fahrer from ACIL Allen consulting, who told the Queensland Land Court in 2015 under oath that only 1,464 full-time equivalent (FTE) jobs would be created by the project:
“Over the life of the Project it is projected that on average around 1,464 employee years of full time equivalent direct and indirect jobs will be created”.
Note that Fahrer made it abundantly clear that the 1,464 FTE jobs includes both direct employment through its own operations as well as jobs via the impacts on other industries.
Again, this is Adani’s own hand picked economist we are talking about, who rejected the initial 10,000 claim under oath. Fahrer also said in court of the project’s impact on employment:
“It’s not many jobs. We can agree on that”.
And why would Adani’s Carmichael project generate many jobs when the company has boasted that it would be fully automated:
Then there is the very real threat that Adani’s project would displace jobs in other Queensland and New South Wales coal mines as it floods the world with more cheap coal, depressing its price.
In short, Adani is full of it. The Carmichael project is a dud both economically and environmentally. Thankfully, it also looks highly unlikely to go ahead now the federal government has (reluctantly) pulled its financial support.
