The #StopAdani movement is calling on the Palaszczuk government to come clean about the secret coal royalty deal it has struck with Adani. 

Today, the Queensland government has finalised a secret coal royalty deal with Adani, first offered in May 2017. It comes as the Queensland Resources Council (QRC) has been aggressively campaigning for a freeze on royalties ahead of the 31 October election.

Estimates of the subsidy to defer Adani’s royalties range from $253 million to over $700 million. Research by The Australia Institute shows Adani will effectively get 17% of their coal for free and that a large majority of Queenslanders believe royalty rates should be increased.

Mackay Conservation Group coordinator and #StopAdani spokesperson Peter McCallum says: “The Queensland govt doesn’t know whether it's Arthur or Martha when it comes to handing out free coal money to billionaires. Palaszczuk won the last election after refusing Adani $1billion of public money by stopping the NAIF loan. Now it appears the government has secretly done a dodgy deal to hand free coal to Adani without disclosing the terms.”

“Taxpayers have a right to know what the deal is and how much of a free ride Adani's climate wrecking coal mine has been given. The government appears to have rolled over to the demands of the QRC for a 10 year deferral of royalty payments that could be spent on schools and hospitals, so a billionaire can dig his climate destroying coal mine.”  

“Adani can’t be trusted to repay royalty money, their shocking track record of short changing companies who work for them speaks for itself. How can Queenslanders be assured that Adani will pay any royalties at all, given the financially precarious position of the Carmichael project that even the Queensland Treasury has described as unbankable?”

Australian Marine Conservation Society’s David Cazzulino says: “While banks and lenders blacklist Adani’s climate wrecking coal project and refuse it finance, the Queensland government has offered Adani special treatment. Taxpayers will be footing the bill for a billionaire’s coal mine that will never be profitable and is well on its way to becoming a stranded asset.” 

“Queensland is already feeling the effects of climate change, with our Great Barrier Reef suffering a third mass coral bleaching event in just five years. Over 65% of Queensland is in severe drought and bushfire season is rapidly approaching. Queensland needs governments to invest in the future, not give public money to a billionaire’s coal company whose coal project will make climate change even worse.”