The Queensland Labor government has held the door open to providing Indian mining conglomerate Adani with hundreds of millions of dollars in financial relief to help get its Carmichael coal mine into production.
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Labor rejects Adani loan
$900m slated as a development loan from the federal government has been rejected by Labor, saying the controversial mine should stand on its own two feet.
Queensland Treasurer Curtis Pitt did not deny a report on Thursday that a $320 million "royalties holiday" was on the table to help progress the $21 billion project, but he insisted "no decision has been made on anything".
An ABC report suggested Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk would agree to charge Adani just $2 million a year for "several years" before a higher rate kicked in.
During the 2015 state election campaign, Ms Palaszczuk accused then premier Campbell Newman of "throwing a bucket of taxpayers' cash" at Adani.
In a statement, Adani said Queensland governments of all stripes had previously "used royalty agreements to enable such projects".
"Adani welcomes this approach," the company said.
Mr Pitt insisted the state government was not interested in ad hoc arrangements and would provide an "open and transparent framework" for all proponents while still recognising "first mover advantage" to open up areas such as the Galilee.
![Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170522232855im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/5/m/a/v/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw80nk.png/1495144926641.jpg)
"There's no deal in place, because there has been no decision made on anything," he said.
"The Premier has been clear today, and I will reiterate: no taxpayer funds will be provided to Adani to support the construction of a rail line ... I will also say that Adani will pay every cent of royalties that is owed to the state."
![Adani's Carmichael mine could produce as much as 60 million tonnes of coal a year for 60 years.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170522232855im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/v/z/q/i/o/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw80nk.png/1495445680187.jpg)
He would not comment on whether what Adani would owe in future could include a discounted royalty structure.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said royalties were a matter for the state, but renewed his warning that "if we don't sell [coal] to [India], someone else will".
![Malcolm Turnbull: "If we don't sell [coal] to [India], someone else will.''](http://web.archive.org./web/20170522232855im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/3/b/p/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gw80nk.png/1495416047919.jpg)
Queensland takes a 7 per cent royalty on every tonne of coal when the price is below $100 a tonne, rising to 12.5 per cent up to $150 a tonne and 15 per cent after that.
Thermal coal currently sells for about $97 a tonne, according to the RB Index, and Queensland received about $2 billion in revenues from coal producers in the past year.
Australian Conservation Foundation president Geoff Cousins expressed disbelief at the prospect of financial relief for the mine.
"That would be disgraceful and I would have thought impossible – just a step too far," he said.
ACF is one of 130 groups involved in trying to stop Adani.
According to sources, Mr Turnbull's office took a call on average every five minutes on Wednesday from people registering their opposition to the Carmichael mine.
Meanwhile, a Victorian MP has become the first member of Labor's federal caucus to openly oppose the development of Carmichael.
Peter Khalil, a member of the Right faction who was backed by Bill Shorten's Australian Workers' Union for his seat of Wills, told local environmentalists he did not want to see the mine opened.
"Given the environmental and commercial question marks, I do not think this mine will go ahead, nor should it go ahead," he wrote to Climate Action Moreland.
That stance puts him at loggerheads with Mr Shorten and shadow resources spokesman Jason Clare, who have given support to Carmichael as long as public money is not spent subsidising it, including the construction of a rail line from the Galilee to Abbot Point port on the Queensland coast.
Labor energy and environment spokesman Mark Butler has been less enthusiastic, claiming Carmichael would just "displace" other mines and cost jobs elsewhere in the sector.