'It's a wake up call': Stunning Adani U-turn as Queensland Premier Anna Palaszczuk orders crisis talks - after Labor's inaction on the coal mine cost them the election
- The Queensland Labor Premier has demanded action over the Adani coalmine
- Annastacia Palaszczuk has criticised her own party for delays to huge project
- Labor's loss of core support in the Sunshine State has given her a 'wake-up call'
The Queensland Labor Premier has demanded action over the Adani coalmine after Labor's federal election defeat.
Annastacia Palaszczuk criticised her own government's delays in approving Australia's biggest mine.
She said federal Labor's loss of core support in the Sunshine State has given her a 'wake-up call.'
Traditional Labor voters deserted their party at the ballot box after Bill Shorten vowed to change the nation and take 'real action' on climate change.
Before the federal election, Ms Palaszczuk promised there would be no political interference in the decision to approve the Adani mine.
But on Wednesday she stood before cameras in a hard hat in Mackay and demanded a meeting between Adani and her own government ministers.
'The community is fed up with the processes, I know I'm fed up with the processes, I know my local members are fed up with the processes,' Ms Palaszczuk said.
'We need some certainty, and we need some timeframes. Enough is enough… the federal election was definitely a wake-up call to everyone.'
The Adani coal mine will be built at Galilee Basin (pictured), some 500kms west of Mackay
Despite their best efforts to promote the potential problems the mine may cause to the climate (left), many Queensland locals (right) focused on the positive impact the mine will have on industry and jobs
Ms Palaszczuk said she understood there was frustration in the community about the lack of a decision on the mine.
'I think everyone's had a gutful of this, frankly,' she said.
The Adani coalmine will provide 1,500 jobs in regional Queensland but building work is on hold pending approval from the regulator, Queensland's Environment Department.
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A Queensland government representative will meet with Adani on Thursday to thrash out a timeline for the Carmichael mine approval process in an attempt to resolve delays that caused a voter backlash.
Ms Palaszczuk intervened to order her state co-ordinator-general to meet with Adani and the independent regulator to fix a timeline and deadline for a decision by Friday.
Greens founder Bob Brown (pictured) led a convoy of left-wing supporters on a tour across Queensland in an effort to convince locals to vote against Adani
Two outstanding environmental management plans, involving the site's Black-Throated Finch habitat and complex groundwater sources, have contributed to delays.
Adani Australia chief executive Lucas Dow said if approvals were not complete within two weeks then the meeting would prove to be just another government 'delaying tactic'.
CFMEU National President Tony Maher welcomed a clear timeline for the project which he said had significant community support on the grounds it would create local jobs.
He said he wanted Adani to confirm how many permanent full-time jobs the mine would generate.
Mackay Conservation Group coordinator Peter McCallum said Queensland's water and wildlife are not put at risk by the project.
Within hours of the polls closing on Saturday the smiles had been wiped from the face of Labor leader Bill Shorten (left). Labor senator Penny Wong (right) later admitted her party's stance on Adani may have made the biggest difference to the election result
