Can't say he wasn't warned: Bill Shorten was told he'd lose the election TWO YEARS ago if he didn't approve the Adani mine – but he was blinded by the votes of inner-city greenies
- Labor leader Bill Shorten was punished by central and north Queensland voters
- They were furious over Mr Shorten's mixed messages on the Adani coal mine
- Mr Shorten warned on April 11, 2017, to back the project or suffer at election
- But he didn't listen to the warning or subsequent calls - and paid the price
Bill Shorten can't say he wasn't warned that his failure to back the Adani coal mine would end up costing him the election.
I told him myself.
But then again, so did thousands of others.
The warning bells for Labor were ringing loud in central and north Queensland communities long before Bob Brown rubbed locals up the wrong way with his ill-fated Stop Adani Convoy.
Ever since the end of the mining boom, places like Townsville, Mackay, Rockhampton and Gladstone had been bleeding.
Unemployment had skyrocketed and local businesses were hurting.
Jobs is what they craved and the opening up of the Galilee Basin to coal mining promised jobs, thousands of them.
It's not to say that locals didn't care about the environment, of course they did - they just cared about their livelihoods more.
Coal communities in central and north Queensland turned savagely on Labor at the election over its mixed messages on the Adani coal mine in the Galilee Basin
Bill Shorten, with wife Chloe, was warned two years ago that Adani could cost him the election
Adani offered these communities hope.
So the more that green activists from south of the border tried to sabotage the project, tried to turn it into another Franklin Dam and make it the symbolic frontline in the fight against climate change - the more they bristled.
Adani was already well established as a political football, beset by constant delays and false starts, when I sat down with Mr Shorten for dinner on April 11, 2017.
At the time I was editor of Queensland's The Courier-Mail daily newspaper and Mr Shorten was the alternative prime minister.
He was riding high in the polls and quietly confident the top job would soon be his.
Over roasted barramundi at Brisbane's Jellyfish restaurant, I told him that Labor needed to get behind the project or they would pay a heavy price in north Queensland.
Daily Mail Australia executive editor (then editor of Queensland's The Courier-Mail) told Mr Shorten on April 11, 2017, during dinner in Brisbane (pictured) that failure to back Adani would hurt him badly in Queensland at the election
'Youth unemployment in Townsville is near 15 per cent,' I said.
'These places need jobs. No way will you hold (Townsville-based) Herbert unless you back Adani.'
His response: 'Adani needs to stack up commercially and environmentally'.
That was two years ago.
Mr Shorten has been sitting on the fence over the project - much to his peril - ever since.
So why didn't he listen to the warnings - including from his own MPs - which grew increasingly louder in the Sunshine State as the election loomed?
The reality is Mr Shorten was scared of losing the green vote in a bunch of inner-city seats.
He thought progressive votes in Melbourne and Sydney were worth more than those in central and north Queensland.
He was wrong.
On Saturday Mr Shorten was hit by a coal freight train.
Regional Queenslanders, who hate being preached to by anybody (let alone 'greenies'), vented their fury at the ballot box with massive swings against Labor.
The final straw was arguably Brown's ragtag convoy of environmental activists who upset locals with their Stop Adani t-shirts and in-your-face protests.
Protests by environmental activists against the Adani mine upset coal communities
The controversial project is still awaiting final approval from the State Government
In the end, Mr Shorten's fence-sitting on the mine scuttled any chance of Labor winning in Herbert, Dawson (Mackay), Capricornia (Rockhampton) and Flynn (Glastone).
It also cost Mr Shorten his job and his long-held dream of becoming prime minister.
If only he had listened.
With an election due next year, Queensland Labor Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk is determined not to suffer the same fate, despite her government's longstanding obfuscation of the project .
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has fallen in behind Adani for fear of suffering the same fate as Bill Shorten at the next state election
In the strongest sign yet the mine will soon get the green light, Ms Palaszczuk on Wednesday declared the public was rightfully 'fed up' with the continual delays.
As for federal Labor, which will soon begin the painful process of reviewing its election night drubbing, Mr Shorten's handling of Adani will be a good place to start.
The party may find it has to suffer some inner-city electoral pain if it wants to win these disenfranchised communities back.
