Adani and the QLD election myths and political mayhem

Adani and the QLD election myths and political mayhem.

I don’t know about you, but I am really pissed off with the lies, misinformation and generally grubby political games being played by many of the players in this QLD election.

For starters, I have been prompted to attack the keyboard again, after a fairly long hiatus, (due to health issues, which have now resulted in me being finally placed on the Lung Transplant List), as a result of the misinformation and self serving political games of some of the extreme players and supporters from both sides of the political divide.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I will state from the outset that I am dead against the Adani mine, and everything associated with this bunch of tax avoiding environmental  criminals and vandals!

So, with that in mind, let’s look at some of the issues relating to Adani and the QLD election:

There is lots of hysteria around about Annastacia Palaszczuk, and her “Support” for Adani,  the Galilee Basin mine, and associated infrastructure , and to get this in perspective, you first have to look at the vagaries of QLD politics, and the very tenuous nature of the state Labor government.

1. The Palaszczuk government is a minority government, resurrected from the ashes of the disastrous 2012 Newman election landslide, with the current LNP leader Tim Nichols as his treasurer.
2. With her stunning reversal of Labors fortunes at the 2015 election, the state was delivered a hung parliament, but with the support of the independent Peter Wellington, she was able to form government with a majority of one.
3. Wellington then became the speaker, leaving the QLD gov dependent upon support from  The Katters Australia party, who are vocal supporters of the Adani mine.
4. Without that support from the aforementioned Katters, the state would revert to the LNPee’ers, and in the early days, the (and I use the term loosely) “Leadership” of the much despised Laurence Springborg, or the more recent Nerwman’s policy “Mini Me” Tim Nichols, who until recently was regarded as having too much Newman baggage, to be taken seriously as leader!

Now, while Annastacia Palaszczuk has publicly declared her support for the mine, and yes, she did go to India to meet with Adani, the alternative for her was to publicly decry Adani, and lose support from the Katters, handing the state over to Nichols who would/will not only publicly support Adani, but would/will actively encourage the company to do anything and everything they want,  signing off on any monies proffered by the feds, along with state funds and our first born children… Anything to get it up and running!

So lets take a closer look at what her support for Adani entails:

1. At the very start of the campaign, she stated categorically that she will only support the mine, as long it can raise the funds itself, and will NOT support it financially!
2. She has consistently stated that the proposed Northern Australian Investment Fund support for the $900+ million “Loan”, will NOT be signed off on through the state NAIF office.
3. She is always referring to the “Promised” 10,00 – 14,00 jobs, quoted  ad infinitum by the LNPee’ers, both state and federal, when we all know, and Adani itself conceded that the real number would be around 1400 full time positions after the construction phase!

There is also the point made by one of the stupid trolls at The Guardian, where he stated that   Annastacia Palaszczuk was against the mine, prior to the election, and then became supportive of it afterwards!   And doesn’t that indicate that there might well be some level of political imperative, in such a dramatic turn around, at the same time that many of the allegations about Adani’s world wide operations/indiscretions, and their, to say the least, questionable corporate and financial structures and use of tax havens like The Caymans were just starting to rise to the surface?

There is also the lies told in support of the mine from the federal LNPee’ers who have stated time and again that there are currently over 640 new coal fired power plants either under construction or in the planning stages,  which is a gross misrepresentation of the true numbers which are around half that, with more being cancelled almost daily, and the other BIG lie is that this mine will give power to millions of poor Indians, when the truth is that it will do nothing of the sort, as the “Poor Indians” they refer to have no access to a power grid, and these remote communities are already starting to get their power from Autonomous solar with battery storage, as it’s by far the cheapest and quickest solution to their energy requirements.

But I digress   😮

So at this  point, it might be worth while embarking on a little role playing journey of; “In her position, what would you do?”

So, let’s set the scene.

You have just effectively won the unwinnable election, relegating the worst possible little narcissist, seen in recent history, to the political garbage bin after only one term, and  are now about to form a minority government with a majority of one, courtesy of the independent Peter Wellington, and with the promised support from the Katters Australia Party, who are regarded as a much closer political fit to the conservatives you just ousted.

Now, your choices are, that;

1. you can take a pragmatic approach to towing the line on the Adani project that you really don’t support, in the knowledge  that, on the weight of evidence from the experts and the lending institutions, there’s a pretty good chance that it will never see the light of day, so as to keep the Katters on side, or
2. you can  hold to your opposition to the mine, and chance squandering your hard fought victory and a chance to fix the mess created by the aforementioned little Narcissist, as well as allowing the LNPee’ers to wedge you at every opportunity on the promised 10,000+ jobs, that will never eventuate, but which will be a major problem for you in FNQ and the regions?

So, the question remains “In her position, what would you do?”

Despite all the rhetoric to the contrary, the Palaszczuk government has tried very hard to encourage renewables, with large investments in, and strong support for wind and solar, and has tried, albeit in vain, to stop the rabid land clearing introduced by Newman, which is a huge contributing factor when it comes to polluting the GBR,  but  their reforms have been constantly thwarted by the Katters.

With all that in mind I would venture to suggest that a Palaszczuk government with an outright majority would be a very different beast from the one that we have seen thus far.

But even if I’m totally wrong, in my assessment of the situation, the one thing that I’m reasonably sure of is that the “Spoiling game” that’s being played by the greens, and other vested interests for their own personal and political ambitions, has the very real potential to deliver what most of their supporters would agree is their worst nightmare, of an LNP/PHONy  COALition government, implementing their own version of a scorched earth policy on Climate Change, spearheaded by QLD tax payers financial support for Adani and the Galilee basin mine, New coal fired power stations, the degradation of support for renewables and associated jobs, the destruction of the GBR, and the long term loss of 10’s of thousands of jobs in the tourism industry.

So my appeal to QLDers, is to exercise some critical thinking, don’t listen to the plethora of hysterical rhetoric whipped up by self-serving  vested interests, and if you love our great state, then turn your backs on  Adani and the QLD election myths and political mayhem…

And put the LNP and PHON last, where they put you!… And vote for Labor, QLD’s best, if not ONLY chance to send Adani back from whence they came!

The only options for QLD Government

 

For those that don’t know, this article was kindly reposted on AIMN, and some   interesting facts have come to light courtesy of a comment from a poster named Gary.

And after some further research of my own, it has come to light that what Gary said is true.

The first contract was signed by Newman and Seeney, in Jan 2015, when the LNP government was in caretaker mode, and that contract had severe penalties for any government that tries to walk away from said contract!

So effectively Newman and Seeney did to QLD what Naptime did to Victoria, and in short AP inherited a contract that no-one can walk away from and has to publicly support the Adani mine, or very possibly send the state bust, paying compensation to Adani!

From what I understand, Andrew Robb and Abbott were also heavily involved.

SO, if you love Australia, put the ALP first, and put the LNP, PHON and any that put this state and country at further risk by their lies and propaganda, stone, motherless LAST!!!