New polling from The Australia Institute shows almost two thirds (64%) of Australians oppose a taxpayer-funded subsidised loan to the Adani coal mine project, as reports emerge the Queensland Government is considering an additional $320 million subsidy to Adani in the form of a ‘royalty holiday’.

—For polling brief see attachement below—

“Providing a billion dollar taxpayer-subsidised loan to the Adani coal mine project is unpopular with a majority of people, no matter which political party they vote for or where they live in Australia,’ said deputy director of The Australia Institute Ebony Bennett.

“The reported $320 million ‘royalty holiday’ amounts to a subsidy from the Queensland taxpayer, in addition to an unlimited water licence and a touted $1 billion subsidised loan, facilitated by the Queensland government.

Subsidies to coal mines make little economic or environmental sense. Loans to this project prevent loans to other projects and breach of Australian government commitments to the G20 to phase out fossil fuel subsidies.

“With the coal industry in structural decline, heavily subsidising the Adani coal mine is not only environmentally disastrous, it’s economically irresponsible. The Port of Newcastle has warned this subsidised loan threatens existing coal jobs in NSW’s Hunter Valley and Illawarra.”

“Australians would prefer that taxpayer subsidies support virtually any other infrastructure project – whether its schools and hospitals, dams and irrigation projects, the NBN or large-scale renewable energy projects,” said Ms Bennett.