Carmichael Mine will bring millions of India’s people out of poverty

Published on 17 March 2017

Rockhampton Region Mayor Margaret Strelow will today visit the receiving end of Australia's coal supply during a tour of India's largest commercial port operated by the Adani Group.
 
Mayor Strelow said the visit so far has already given great insight into how the expected 60 million tonnes of coal exported each year from the Carmichael Mine will power India's growing economy, bringing millions of people out of poverty.

"We need to be having an informed and complex conversation about the journey from a highly coal dependent global community to a world with a focus on renewable energy," Mayor Strelow said.
 
"That conversation has to talk about real policy settings, about mature programme development and yet simultaneously lift the third world out of poverty.
 
"To turn off the 'coal' tap tomorrow will bring civilisation as we know it to an end. And to simply allow for a continuation of the status quo but no expansion is to say 'we're okay' without thinking about the rest of the world and is both selfish and short sighted.
 
"We need something more sophisticated than 'stop the coal'. We need policy settings and research and investment and maturity to get us to where the world needs to be.
 
"And I will argue that the extraction of Australia's cleaner coal is a part of that journey.”
 
With Adani's pending decision on where it will base its FIFO operations, Mayor Strelow added that now is not the time for intercity rivalry.
 
“Should our bid be successful we will happily provide the data we relied on to convince Adani that we were the better choice. And if we are successful we will need to work closely with Townsville who have already been announced as Adani headquarters," she said.
 
"Right now we need to be combating the 'fake news' that is being spread about Adani or this project will never get off the ground."