Most Queensland voters oppose taxpayer support for Adani coalmine – poll

Queensland voters have given the thumbs down to taxpayer support for the controversial Adani coalmine, with 59% saying they were opposed to state or federal assistance. A new poll of 1,618 Queenslanders taken by ReachTel indicates 57% of the sample objected to a loan for a rail link between the mine and Abbot point, which is championed by the federal resources minister Matt Canavan. Just over 50% of the sample said a decision by the Queensland government to grant the project a royalties holiday would be a broken election promise. The poll was commissioned by the progressive thinktank the Australian Institute. It comes as the state Labor government is battling an internal split on whether or not to give the project a royalties holiday. Federal government sources have also told Guardian Australia that Canavan can expect strong internal pushback against any proposal to grant a concessional loan to Adani. Some argue the concept is objectionable. This week officials from Infrastructure Australia told Senate estimates they had not identified the proposed rail line as a priority, and they had not consulted the body which is expected to stump up a concessional loan, the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility. Adani is seeking a $900m concessional loan from the Naif for the rail line. Infrastructure Australia and the Naif are required to consult on projects worth more than $100m. As well as facing internal resistance to taxpayer support, the environment group, the Australian Conservation Foundation, has warned the Turnbull government it will pursue all avenues, including possible legal action, to stop a concessional loan being granted to the rail line. The new poll also comes as federal Labor MPs this week have also broken ranks to express public objections to the controversial project. With an eye on the looming Queensland state election, and on several marginal seats in north Queensland with the potential to decide the next federal election, federal Labor has adopted a position that says the Adani mine can proceed on its merits but the project should not be given federal support. The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, has previously argued there is no point having a giant coalmine if you wreck the reef “but, on the other hand, if the deal does stack up, if the science safeguards are there, if the experts are satisfied, then all well and good and there’ll be jobs created”. But three MPs have now publicly defied that position: Tasmanian Lisa Singh and Victorians David Feeney and Peter Khalil. The recent breakout by federal Labor MPs follows an intensifying civil society campaign against the project, which is applying consistent pressure to a number of major party MPs in metropolitan areas.