With so many wins on the part of the environment movement in Australia, some are saying the mine won't go ahead anyway. Why waste energy on continuing campaigning? For an answer to this, we have turned to finance analyst, Tim Buckley of the IEEFA, Greenpeace, Sunrise Project and others. Be assured, we need to keep the pressure on, and we need your help to do it!
The reality is that the personal wealth of Mr Gautam Adani, already a multi-billionaire, more than doubled in 2017, so theoretically the Adani company could finance the Carmichael mine and rail project itself. Mr Adani is known to be determined and, of course, has the backing of Federal and Queensland Governments who are in turn heavily influenced (and generously rewarded financially) by the historically powerful coal lobby.
The Adani company, however, is seeking to minimise risk through indications that the Australian Government will maintain its stance in support of the Carmichael project. The company is more likely to proceed if Labor continues to waver or comes out more strongly in favour of the project, and if significant taxpayer money is invested in it. With a loan from NAIF ruled out, currently under consideration is a $1bn loan from the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC) normally used to underwrite Australian companies overseas. The history of the Adani group in India suggests strongly that any such loan will never be repaid.
In the meantime, the Wangan and Jagalingou Family Council is valiantly defending their country through the court system. They are challenging the false Indigenous Land Use Agreement which was created under Native Title legislation especially revised in 2017 to make it more difficult for them to claim their land rights. ARRCC honours the land rights of the Wangan and Jagalingou as the traditional custodians of large parts of the Galilee Basin. To find out how to support the W&J, see here: http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/our-fight/
The coming Federal election means that sitting MP's will be more sensitive to the views of their constituents. If you are in an electorate where the sitting Member is Labor or someone on the cross-bench, ask them to put a strong case to Labor leaders that the ALP should publicly take a stand against the Carmichael project.
If your representative is in the National or Liberal Party, let them know it is unacceptable for public money to be used to provide finance for the high-risk venture of a foreign company with such a poor environmental and financial record.
More details to come.
