CFMEU warns Adani coalmine 'risks selling out local jobs' and threatens water

Extract from The Guardian

Carmichael coalmine

Queensland premier under more pressure as union fears the promise of jobs and prosperity is a myth

Lisa Cox

Thu 23 May 2019 19.58 AEST Last modified on Thu 23 May 2019 20.00 AEST

The state secretary of the construction division of the CFMEU, Michael Ravbar, says Annastacia Palaszczuk risks ‘being taken for a ride’ over the Adani colamine. Photograph: Darren England/AAP

The CFMEU has warned the Queensland premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, against rushing to have Adani’s Carmichael coalmine approved, saying it “risks selling out local jobs” and threatens water security in central Queensland.
The state’s environment department and coordinator general met Adani representatives on Thursday for talks about the outstanding environmental approvals required for the project to proceed.
Palaszczuk has demanded a timeline for the management plans – one for the black-throated finch and the other for groundwater – be made public on Friday.
The premier was under more pressure over the project on Thursday, this time from the construction arm of the Queensland branch of the CFMEU.

The state secretary of the construction and general division, Michael Ravbar, said Palaszczuk risked “being taken for a ride by a shonky multinational with a chequered corporate history”.
“This coal, and the 12.5 billion litres of water that Adani also plans to extract every year, is owned by the people of Queensland, yet we see little evidence that Adani is offering anything in return,” Ravbar said.
“Our concern is that the promise of jobs and prosperity that was such a touchstone in the federal election is a myth; a fiction designed to hoodwink people into thinking Adani will be a good corporate citizen.”
Ravbar said the Queensland government needed to obtain a guarantee from Adani that any jobs associated with the project would be long-term, permanent jobs for Queenslanders.
“Without such guarantees we know what will happen. Adani will ship in its construction workforce from India under so-called free trade provisions while Australian engineers, construction workers and local suppliers miss out,” he said.
“Then when the mine is operational it will largely be automated, with robots and remote controlled machinery.”
Adani Mining’s chief executive, Lucas Dow, denied on Thursday the company had any plans for automation or to hire workers on temporary visas.
“Let me categorically say, because this has been one of the great lies and set of mythologies surrounding our project, there’s no automation contemplated on our project and we’re not engaging with 457 visas,” Dow said.
“Our industrial relations strategy is very much one of being able to provide certainty of employment and providing the ability for long-term employment. So we look forward to continuing to work with the CFMEU.”
Adani Mining’s former chief executive, Jeyakumar Janakaraj, has previously said: “We will be utilizing at least 45, 400-tonne driverless trucks. All the vehicles will be capable of automation. When we ramp up the mine, everything will be autonomous from mine to port. In our eyes, this is the mine of the future.”
Queensland’s department of environment and science said after Thursday’s meeting it was expected the timeline requested by the premier would be made public on Friday.

The Queensland Labor party has been under pressure since the federal party’s disastrous performance in the state in Saturday’s election defeat.
The Greens’ climate and energy spokesman, Adam Bandt, warned that if Labor fast-tracked the mine, it would be putting at risk inner-city seats in Melbourne and Brisbane where voters wanted parties to urgently address the climate crisis.
“If Queensland Labor misreads the election results and starts hugging coal even tighter, voters in the inner city will punish Labor and shift to the Greens,” Bandt said.

“Labor has tried to walk both sides of the street on coal, but if Labor now comes down on the side of opening new coalmines, expect a swift and brutal response from voters in the inner city who want action on global warming.