Details of royalty deal for mega mine are still being negotiated with Adani, says Queensland

Queensland’s government says it is still negotiating with Adani over the details of its royalties agreement for its $16.5bn Carmichael mine, despite the deal being officially agreed months ago. Adani announced in May it had reached agreement with the government over royalty payments, after a more generous offer of concessions was scrapped amid internal pressure from within the state Labor cabinet and caucus. But the department of state development last month blocked the release of documents relating to the deal, saying its deliberations on Adani’s royalty payments were ongoing and that “premature disclosure could negatively impact negotiations between the state and Adani”. Asked whether negotiations were ongoing, a Palaszcuk government spokesman said the royalty negotiations for the Carmichael coal were “in accordance with a resource policy framework announced in May”. This framework included that all royalties due to the state on new mines, if deferred, would be repaid with interest over the life of an agreement, the spokesman said. An Adani spokesman said there were “no ongoing negotiations” over the royalties agreement reached on 30 May. Two weeks ago the department of state development gave advice to the Australia Institute, which sought documents on the deal under right to information (RTI) laws. The department refused to release 218 pages of documents, citing reasons including the release of information that would “prejudice the economy of the state”. Its decision notice said the information was recorded to help the government in “deliberating on, and evaluating matters relating to the royalties to be paid by Adani for coal extracted and sold from the proposed Carmichael coal mine (or by any company from the first mine to be built or to extract coal from the Galilee Basin)”. “As these deliberations are ongoing, the information remains relevant to current government considerations and premature disclosure could negatively impact negotiations between the state and Adani as well as the broader decision-making and consultation process,” the decision said. Australia Institute researcher Tom Swann said the department’s RTI officer later confirmed “this was true both when we applied [mid-May] and on the date of their RTI decision [17 August]”. Swann said the new information from the RTI process threw into doubt “whether that deal was ever accepted, or whether it was a final deal”. “The Palaszczuk government insists it will not subsidise Adani, and that Adani will pay its royalties in full,” he said. “Given this it is unclear what is left to negotiate, unless the government is planning to offer further support.” A state treasury document obtained by the Australia Institute under a previous RTI request showed public servants expressing concerns about being asked to produce evidence of the economic benefits of the royalties deal after it was offered. The documents also showed that Adani agreed to a treasury proposal on the same day the company announced the new royalties pact. The Adani spokesman said the company “reached agreement with the Queensland government following a special cabinet meeting that approved a new royalties regime for the Galilee Basin and, indeed, other new mineral provinces”. “Adani had previously announced it was putting the project on hold until a royalties agreement could be reached,” he said. “It is also noteworthy that Adani announced the ‘green light’ for the project on Queensland Day [6 June]. There are no ongoing negotiations on this matter.” Government sources have previously told Guardian Australia that Adani would be expected to pay at least $5m in royalties in the Carmichael mine’s first year of production, a discount that fell each year until full royalties were due in five years’ time. This fell short of an original reported offer to Adani of a “royalties holiday” that would have cost the state up to $320m in revenue, with the company to pay just $2m in the first year. That offer triggered internal uproar in Labor, with some regional MPs citing their constituents’ support for the mine and its jobs but also for Adani, as a transnational corporation, to pay its way.