Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says everyone has had a “gutful” of the long-drawn out approvals process for Adani’s controversial coal mine and wants a timeline fixed for public release by Friday.
‘We need some certainty and we need some time-frames,” the premier told reporters near Mackay on Wednesday.
Ms Palaszczuk was visiting the Hay Point Coal Terminal with local state MP Julieanne Gilbert amid pressure to listen to regional voters if it is to stand a chance of re-election at next year’s state poll.
The state’s drawn-out process of approving Adani’s plans for a massive coal mine in the Galilee Basin has been blamed for federal Labor’s poor performance in Saturday’s election in Queensland.
Ms Palaszczuk called for Adani and the independent regulator to sit down with the state coordinator-general as soon as possible to work up a definite time frame on decisions around the two outstanding reports required for a final decision.
“I sense the frustration of the community. I’m frustrated. I think everyone’s had a gutful of this, frankly” she said.
Ms Palaszczuk said the country was “fed up” and she was too.
Earlier, Adani chief executive Lucas Dow said he wanted the coal mine approved “immediately”.
The state government has repeatedly said it is up to Adani to complete all the required paperwork, and Adani says the state government keeps moving the goal posts.
Mr Dow has written to all state MPs asking for an urgent meeting to understand their position on the massive Carmichael coal project.
“We have had overwhelming support from Queenslanders wanting the Carmichael Project to proceed and to proceed immediately,” he said in a statement.
He called state Labor’s professions of support for the resources sector and coal mining as “hollow promises”.
The only way for the Queensland Labor government to demonstrate support was to announce the finalisation and approval of the two outstanding management plans, Mr Dow said.