[Australia Coal] Even Conservative Queenslanders Hate The Idea Of Adani Getting Government Handouts Anthony Sharwoord (HuffPost Australia – November 8,  2017)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/

Pay your own way, please. These, as far as we know, were not the exact words Queenslanders used when asked how they feel about $1 billion in taxpayer funds being funnelled to Adani to help the Indian resources giant build its proposed Carmichael coal mine.

But they seem a pretty close approximation of the vibe, if a new poll released this week is anything to go by. And interestingly, coal miners are among those who are most strongly opposed.

The ReachTEL poll, commissioned by the Stop Adani movement, showed that approximately seven out of 10 Queenslanders believe Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk did the right thing last weekend when she announced her Labor Government would have “no role in the future” of an assessment of the $1 billion loan to Adani.

The proposed $1 billion loan was available through the Federal Government’s Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility (NAIF), which exists to stimulate investment in a part of Australia where infrastructure and other costs can be huge, due largely to the area’s remoteness.

Before any NAIF funding goes through, the State Government must approve it. In this case, Queensland chose not to. The Premier’s official reason was that her partner, Shaun Drabsch, worked on the NAIF application with his employer, PricewaterhouseCoopers, which acted for Adani.

For the rest of this column: http://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/11/08/even-conservative-queenslanders-hate-the-idea-of-adani-getting-government-handouts_a_23270183/