Australia’s opposition Labor Party has been given new legal advice arguing there is a valid pathway to revoke the environmental approvals for the India conglomerate Adani’s controversial coal project, and a summary of polling showing stopping the project would not necessarily cost parliamentary seats in central Queensland at the coming federal election.
Guardian Australia has seen a brief for Labor Members of Parliament prepared by the Stop Adani campaign, which quotes legal advice from Neil Williams SC, a specialist in environmental and planning law, arguing “there is evidence to support revocation of Adani’s approval under section 145 of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, including significant impacts on water resources that were not assessed when the mine was approved”.
The legal advice, according to the brief circulated to MPs and members of the shadow cabinet, said the environment minister could revoke the approval on the grounds that there was new information about significant negative impacts from the mine, namely the impacts on water, and on the habitat of the black?throated finch.
It contends that pathway could allow a revocation of Adani’s approvals without triggering compensation risks.
That opinion builds on legal advice the Australian Conservation Foundation shared with Labor opposition leader Bill Shorten early last year.
The ACF opinion argued that the federal environment minister had discretion to revoke the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act approval for Adani “on at least two grounds”.
The first ground would be “new information of the consecutive bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef, indicating increased sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions” and the second would be “new information of the insufficiency of offsets for the endangered black-throated finch, indicating a threat to the continued survival of the species from the Carmichael project”.
The brief from the Stop Adani campaign also refers to polling in three central Queensland seats: Capricornia, Herbert and Dawson.
It claims the polling shows that 60?70 per cent of residents support action on Adani on water grounds.
It says polling of 800?900 voters in the three seats undertaken last October pointed to “strong support” for reviewing the environmental approvals for the mine.
“The results also show that a large number of minor party voters are supportive of action, including those who intend to vote for the Katter Australia Party and One Nation.”
Guardian Australia reports the Adani mine has flared again as a political issue for Labor because key unions have argued that the project should be supported by the Queensland state Labor government.
This has been seized on by the conservative Liberal National government’ of Prime Minister Scott Morrison which sees an opportunity to bolster the government’s political position in central Queensland in the coming election.
While the government is attacking Labor from a pro-coal, pro-jobs position, Labor is also under sustained pressure from the environment movement, the Australian Greens Party and progressive activist groups to toughen its stance against a project which has become a proxy for action on climate change in the national political debate.
The brief to Labor MPs from the Stop Adani campaign says the group is looking for a commitment that “if elected, we will review the federal environmental approval and if the evidence supports it, we will not hesitate to revoke it”.
One Response
No doubt all corrupted by the usual: political donations, jobs for the boys and junkets.