CBA will no more offer financial advice to Adani’s Carmichael mine

Mackay Conservation Group co-ordinator Ellen Roberts, whose group launched the legal challenge against the Adani proposal, said the Abbott government had launched a “savage attack” on her group and the nation’s environmental laws.

“What can happen from here is the Minister can re-make his decision, and of course in re-making that decision he can approve the mine again following the proper legal procedures, or he can refuse the mine; that is the legal power open to the Minister”, Higginson said.

Approval for Queensland’s Carmichael coal mine was set aside this week after the Federal Court ruled Environment Minister Greg Hunt had not properly considered advice about two threatened species, the yakka skink and the ornamental snake.

“If… projects like this can be endlessly frustrated, that’s unsafe for our country and it’s tragic for the wider world”.

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop also felt that the Adani mine project could have been welcomed by Australia as there is a need for foreign investors in the country.

Mr Abbott argued the coal extracted by mine operator Adani would help power the lives of 100 million Indians.

He said that it was extremely frustrating to witness projects as important as these could be prevented from being constructed. He suggested that once the projects were found to be in compliance with the high environmental standards, it should be given a green light.

The Minerals Council of Australia applauded Mr Abbott’s “compelling and timely” warning.

Mr Abbott said the $21 billion project would create 10,000 jobs.

“Let them go ahead for the workers of Australia and for the people of countries like India who right at the moment have no electricity”.

“Imagine what it’s like to live in the modern world with no electricity”, he told reporters in Cambridge, Tasmania.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten accused Mr Abbott of second-guessing judges, rather than working to change legislation.

“Australian resources can give them electricity and the interesting thing about Australian resources is that invariably they are much better for the environment”.

The “mess” with Adani came about “because the government rushed its approvals and then it’s got tripped up in the court system”, Shorten said.

“I believe the job of the leaders of this nation is to create an atmosphere or an environment which enables business investment whilst getting the balance with keeping a sustainable environment”, he said.

The Australian court admitted of reversing the government approval after Australian Environment Minister Greg Hunt failed to pay heed to the advice regarding threats to vulnerable animal species.

Environmentalists have hailed the federal court’s ruling against the Carmichael mine. “Adani is confident the conditions imposed on the existing approval are robust and appropriate once the technicality is addressed”, the group said in a statement after the decision.