Iluka hall packed for information night on the risks of large scale port dredging

No-one moved as they listened to Dr. Matt Landos

The community hall in Iluka filled quickly and it was standing room only when around 162 people gathered on the night of 21 July 2016 to hear Dr. Matt Landos give a talk on the effects of large scale port dredging on marine environments using Port of Gladstone, within the boundaries of the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage area as an example** and, explain what the as yet unrealised proposal to industrialise the Clarence River estuary might mean for the environment, local communities, tourism and the commercial fishing fleet.

Aboriginal elder Elizabeth Smith gave the Welcome to County and briefly spoke of how the elders were against this mega port plan.

Residents from Iluka, Yamba, Harwood, Grafton and elsewhere along the river sat intently listening for almost two hours as the potential risks were laid before them.

The response to this information predominately ranged from increased concern though to shock and outrage.

Here are some quotes from the Facebook page No Yamba Mega Port:

People talking in groups as organisers pack up the chairs at the end of the night

Photograph: Debrah Novak

**Gladstone: Development at any cost - Govt/Industry Science Spin by clarencegirl on Scribd

https://www.scribd.com/document/319121314/Gladstone-Development-at-any-cost-Govt-Industry-Science-Spin 

Further information:
https://www.scribd.com/document/319064034/Status-Great-Barrier-Reef-World-Heritage-Area-Gladstone-Region-post-dredging

UPDATE

The Daily Examiner, 25 July 2016:

ANY attempt to build a mega port on the Clarence River estuary will meet a similar show of community strength to the one that stopped CSG mining here, says community activist Ian Gaillard.

Mr Gaillard was among a crowd of 162 who packed into the Community Hall at Iluka to hear an address from marine scientist Dr Matt Landos about what they can expect if a development of that size goes ahead in the Clarence estuary…..

Mr Gaillard said sedimentation, acid sulphate and heavy metals disturbed by dredging were key contributing factors to the loss of water quality, sea grass beds and mangroves.

Dr Landos said if the port development went ahead the dredging would be ongoing and that movements of massive ships in the port would also create major problems.

These would include pollution from paints and anti-foul, fuel and oil contamination as well as the introduction of pests from other parts of the world.

Mr Gaillard said people needed to be alert to the possibilities, although he did gain some comfort from statements from political figures who have dismissed the project.

"But I think that if they can get their project up as something of state significance it could appeal to the government we've got in Sydney at the moment," Mr Gaillard said.

"They've had one attempt and failed but they're not going away."

Meetings are planned for Yamba and other communities along the Clarence this year.

Yamba Mega Port Proposal: "This clown just won't take no for an answer"

"This clown just won't take no for an answer" would be a fairly accurate assessment of most Lower Clarence River residents’ opinion of Desmond Euen’s (pictured left) latest attempt to promote his proposal to industrialise the Clarence River estuary by re-creating the Port of Yamba as a mega port.

Having been told repeatedly by local communities that his proposal was unwelcome and, by local government and the NSW Baird Government that the proposal would not be supported/endorsed, he still persists.

In August this year Mr. Euen participated in the following inquiry via the submission process.

Dept. of Infrastructure and Development at https://infrastructure.gov.au/transport/freight/national-strategy.aspx:

On 24 November 2016, the Australian Government announced it will develop a national freight and supply chain strategy (the strategy) to increase the productivity and efficiency of Australia's freight supply chain. The strategy is in response to Infrastructure Australia's Australian Infrastructure Plan.

On 9 March 2017, the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the Hon Darren Chester MP, released Terms of Reference PDF: 219 KB  for an inquiry into National Freight and Supply Chain Priorities (the inquiry).

The Inquiry will inform the development of the strategy and determine how to best lift the productivity and efficiency of Australia's freight supply chain. The inquiry is being led by the Department assisted by Infrastructure Australia and a four member Expert Panel appointed by Minister Chester. On 26 May 2017, the Department released the Discussion Paper for the inquiry, marking the commencement of the public consultation period. Submissions closed on 28 July 2017 and the Department is now analysing the responses, together with comments received from meetings with key stakeholders.

A draft report will be made available for industry and government for comment by December, and the final report provided to the Government by March 2018.

A series of frequently asked questions about the inquiry and the strategy have been prepared to assist you.

The Discussion Paper, working papers prepared for the Inquiry and the submissions (except for those marked ‘in-confidence’) can be accessed below.

Discussion paper PDF: 558 KB 

Media release: Release of Discussion Paper

Working papers

Submissions received

As Inter-Port Global Pty Ltd he submitted two documents (Submission 27 in above link) – one of which was for Gladstone Strategic Development Area in Queensland and the other for the Port of Yamba on the NSW North Coast.

                               

The 42-page Yamba document was originally created by Euen on 27 July 2017 according to its “Properties” page. It asserts to be a submission originally made to Infrastructure Australia at an earlier date.

Desmond Euen of Unit 1103, 2865 Gold Coast Highway, SURFERS PARADISE QLD 4217 registered Inter-Port Global Pty Ltd on 24 August 2016. To date he is the sole director and shareholder as well as the company secretary.

There were a number of confidential submissions to the Inquiry into National Freight and Supply Chain Priorities and it is possible that one of these may be from the group of corporate lawyers, investment companies and property developers behind United Land Councils Ltd and United First Peoples Syndications Pty Ltd who made a joint submission to the NSW Legislative Council General Purpose Standing Committee No. 6 Inquiry Into Crown Land in August 2016 which included the Yamba mega port proposal .

The Inquiry into National Freight and Supply Chain Priorities is due to hand its report to the COAG Transport and Infrastructure Council sometime before end March 2018.

Euen's 'Eastgate Port' exposed

The call went out to protect the Clarence River and its communities.....

The Daily Examiner, 14 June 2016:

LETTER: 'Eastgate Port' very real in eyes of investors

SIGN OF THE FUTURE? Coal ships loaded with their cargo at Port Waratah, Newcastle.

There are currently ongoing discussions to expand the Port of Yamba on the Clarence River estuary into a super-port.

(AAP Image/Dean Lewins)

THERE has been mention in the media recently of the so-called unsolicited proposal to expand the Port of Yamba into a 'super port'.

The latest version of this proposal has increased the size of port infrastructure so that is covers an estimated 36 sq km of the Clarence River estuary.

That's over 27 per cent of the entire estuary covered with container, liquid and bulk terminals and at least 14 associated shipping berths - operating 24 hours a day for up to 365 days a year.

Individuals associated with this proposal have indicated that the river will have to be deeply dredged to a depth of 18 metres from the mouth to beyond Goodwood Island, the entrance break walls will have to be removed and the reef Dirrangun destroyed, in order to accommodate container and bulk vessels with drafts of up to 16 metres.

A cluster of three small river islands (Turkey, Gourd and Palm) will be removed to create the container terminal and berths on the plan being shown at meetings outside the Clarence Valley and, the company has admitted there will be some foreshore loss in the estuary, although it hasn't said where or how much.

Communities living along the lower Clarence would be well aware of the potential for foreshore erosion and loss of river beaches this proposed port would bring with it, along with air, water, light and noise pollution in the vicinity of the new infrastructure. Even if the company is careful not to specifically mention these issues in public.

Now our elected representatives at local, state and federal government level have been telling people that this unsolicited proposal is pie in the sky and will never happen.

However, a company was created to specifically drive this bid to acquire the right to reconfigure the port and obtain a lease to run the new port as a civil corporation and, this company also created a subsidiary registered in Hong Kong.

Presumably this subsidiary will hold the income expected from the 35 per cent shareholding the company believes it will have in the second corporation eventually created to lease the port from the NSW Government.

According to Australian Securities & Investment Commission records the company has issued 494 million shares and over 461 million of these are classed as "not beneficially held". That is they are held on behalf of unnamed individuals, trusts and/or companies.

Representatives and supporters of this company have approached numerous councils, including Clarence Valley Council, to discuss its plan to build an extensive new rail system to ship everything from bauxite, rutile and petro-chemicals through to grain and live cattle from this new industrial port.

It has contacted companies in mainland China to inform them of its plans and its CEO has stated that if the Australian Government gives approval for this port expansion then Chinese money will help fund the project. The sum of $56 billion from Chinese investors was mentioned by one company director with regard to the port and rail system.

The Clarence River, along with its estuary and floodplain, comprise the largest coastal river system in New South Wales and it is home to the commercial fishing fleet working the biggest river and ocean fishery in the state.

The people who live within this system know how special the river is and in the past have spoken out to protect The Mighty Clarence.

This 'super port' plan may not be feasible or advisable given the existing environmental, cultural, social, aesthetic and economic values it will either diminish or destroy, but it continues to be put forward at every opportunity (sometimes promoted by NSW National Party members) and it is perhaps time for concerned Clarence Valley residents and communities to ask their elected representatives to do more than wave away any suggestion that this super port will be considered by government.

It's time to ask them to approach their own parties and get a firm commitment to protect the Clarence River estuary from this form of destructive overdevelopment.

If you want to see what this merry band of white shoe developers have planned for their own personal enrichment go to http://www.aid-australia.com.au/ and read about their proposed $12 billion takeover of the Port of Yamba aka Eastgate Port.

Judith M. Melville, Yamba

Mega-port plan threatens islands

LETTER: Let’s hope Mr Euen’s plans get flushed down the toilet

Stinging attack on Williamson over Port meetings

And China is hearing about it........

http://guanxiglobal.cn/ (use Google Translate button in browser for English text)

Head Office

1 Suite
5 Percy Street, London
England W1T 1DG
United Kingdom

https://twitter.com/GuanxiGlobal

Moree Rail to Yamba Mega Port Scheme: "They probably want to fill the carriages up with water and take them back"

In 2012 Clarence Valley Mayor Richie Williamson probably thought he was sarcastically joking when he remarked about Australian Infrastructure Development Pty Ltd’s scheme to build a Yamba mega port at the end of an inland freight rail line: "They probably want to fill the carriages up with water and take them back".

We now know from presentations done by this company that it is actually spruiking the option of a water pipeline beside the proposed rail line from the port to Moree [Project 1: Port Yamba Regeneration, Slide 11 at http://www.slideshare.net/DesEuen1/part-2-of-3-v1].

We also know that this option is being taken seriously in some quarters.

The July 2016 ordinary monthly meeting minutes of Namoi Councils Joint Organisation (representing eight Murray-Darling Basin local government areas) show that this body is considering both the inland rail to port plan to industrialize the Clarence River estuary and a plan to build at least three to four dams on Clarence River tributaries, pipe the water over the Great Dividing Range into a purpose built hydro-electric scheme before discharging it into the inland river system for the use of irrigators and mining operations in the basin.

Map of Endersbee version of dam & divert proposal, cecaust.com.au

Although the scheme favoured by current Murray-Darling Basin lobbyists differs from the incredibly ambitious scenario Australia Infrastructure Developments appears to have briefly considered if this Facebook post by one of its named shareholders, Richard Wells, is any indication:

As the Namoi councils organisation appears to be favoured by the Baird Government and enjoys a close working relationship with the Dept. of Premier and Cabinet, Clarence Valley communities cannot afford to laugh off the lobbying being done in support of either of these two schemes.

Especially with regard to the Yamba port scheme as there are two planning documents, one state and one federal, which show that Liberal-Nationals governments may yet be inclined to entertain this appalling proposal:

Future strategic planning by Sydney Ports will include the regional ports of Eden and Yamba. [NSW Freight And Ports Strategy, 2013]

The national ports strategy suggests a focus on major ports; however smaller ports face similar challenges. Minor and regional ports play a vital role in the national economy and are encouraged to opt-in and participate. To the extent relevant, the plans should fit in with the Council of Australian Governments’ directions for city planning and the national land freight strategy which is being developed. [Australian Government, Infrastructure Australia – National Ports Strategy, 2011]

As for the Clarence River catchment dam and diversion scheme, it is well to remember that the last time the federal government entertained that idea both state and federal governments were Coalition - just as they are today.

The only real difference is that Malcolm Turnbull has gone from being Australian water minister in 2007 to Australian prime minister in 2016.

It’s time for concerned voters to make their views known to Premier Mike Baird and demand that the valley’s social, cultural and economic interests are not sacrificed to further the greed of private corporations, foreign investors and inland councils.

Is the NSW Dept. of Industry seeking to significantly expand the Port of Yamba?

This is the poster being distributed on behalf of the Berejiklian Government by the NSW Dept. of Industry – Lands, which is responsible for managing Crown lands in New South Wales.

The Department privately sought comment from other government agencies and industry sometime around September-October 2016, before it came north with a set agenda to conduct a brief workshop which it attempted to limit to a handful of local Clarence Valley commercial “stakeholders” in December 2016.

This is what was supposedly taken away from those private discussions and that workshop:

Yamba is a priority location under the NSW Freight and Ports Strategy, with the NSW Government’s desire to support efficiency, connectivity and growth of the freight transport network.

The Clarence River Way Master Plan developed by the Clarence Valley Council identifies the Council’s desire to promote Yamba as the gateway port to the Clarence.

To achieve this, the Masterplan outlines twelve actions that include the promotion and development of port facilities, maintaining the port as a deepwater anchorage and working port, developing the port for the mini cruise market, expanding the shipbuilding and repair facilities, and the inclusion of mixed use commercial and retail opportunities.

The NSW Government has recently funded and/or identified a number of priority projects including the pontoon at Ford Park, River Street, Yamba Bay boat ramp carpark improvements, the Hickey Island boat ramp carpark upgrade, access improvements for the Clarence River Canoe and Kayak Trail, location for sewage pump-out in the upper Clarence River and Yamba boating access improvements.

The Department of Industry - Lands are currently conducting works on the Clarence River southern breakwater, with works on the catwalks and revetment wall, as well as the Yamba access ways having been completed earlier in 2016.

Iluka is located on the NSW north coast along the Clarence River and is bounded by Queen Street and lluka Bay.

The Clarence River Way Master Plan developed by the Clarence Valley Council identifies Iluka as a river town that is a key tourism and service hub for the Clarence River with an upgrade to the public domain and setting the existing marina, and investigating opportunities for marina development deemed as important.

The NSW Government has recently funded and/or identified a number of priority projects, including the Crown Street Boat Ramp Jetty and the upgrade of the Spencer Street jetty.

Under the Coastal Infrastructure Program, the Department of Industry - Lands repaired the Clarence River Northern Breakwater. Additionally, there are works proposed for the finger jetties and refuelling jetty maintenance. [my highlighting]

Now it is asking for input from the community – presumably to gain some comment it can present as evidence that its entire agenda is supported locally.

This agenda misrepresents the Port of Yamba as "a priority location under the NSW Freight and Ports Strategy". It was only one of six ports and twenty-three coastal harbours included in that 236 page report published in 2013 and only rated a relatively brief mention.

It also misrepresents the 2009 Clarence River Way Master Plan which is heavily focussed on tourism expansion. The plan only allowing for limited expansion of existing industry.

Apart from a two sentence commitment to keep Yamba a "working port" with deepwater achorage it makes no mention of freight activity in any one of its 35 pages.

The former Minister for Roads, Maritime and Freight certainly didn't view the port as urgently requiring a new strategic approach, however the new minister in this portfolio Nationals MP for Oxley Melinda Pavey may have a different perspective.

While eight of the nine current Clarence Valley councillors went to the the 2016 local government election stating that they were not in favour of a heavily industrialised mega port and so might in 2017 be reluctant to fully support the Department's future plans for the working port once these are revealed.

I suspect that Yamba has only come to the forefront after Liberal and Nationals politicians and public service mandarins in Farrer Place & Dangar began to look for regions outside of Sydney where an excuse might be created to convert Crown land into private title.

The current Dept. of Industry-Lands agenda includes what appears suspiciously like a fairly softly, softly approach to gain tacit community agreement for future industrialisation of the Clarence River estuary, including the sell-off, lease or transfer of vacant Crown lands for commercial development.

Additionally, the expansion of Goodwood Island port facilities - which was specifically excluded from the Department's workshop discussion - is apparently now on the table because the online survey canvasses opinion on port freight levels. 

This marches in step with the vested interests of a number of professional consultants, financial advisers, investment fund managers, property conveyancing law firms and property developers whose as representatives made appearances at the NSW Legislative Council Inquiry into Crown Land, with one Sydney-based group including a Yamba super port proposal in their wish list.

It is perhaps no accident that this current online consultation finishes early next month - the same month the Berejiklian Government is due to deliver its response to the parliamentary Crown lands inquiry report.

I note that on 8 September 2016 the Audit Office of New South Wales had this to say about the Dept. of Industry-Lands:

Decisions on sale and lease of Crown land are not transparent to the public and the Department has not provided consistent opportunities for the public and interested parties to participate in decisions about Crown land. Between 2012 and 2015, 97 per cent of leases and 50 per cent of sales were negotiated directly between the Department and an individual, without a public expression of interest process. The Department publishes limited information about decision-making processes, policies or plans for future sales and leases.

Proceed with caution if you participate in this online consultation, but do participate.

For the clean, green reputation of the Clarence Coast plays a large part in what attracts tourists to the Lower Clarence, helping keep local businesses open all year round and significantly contributing to our regional economy. 

It is also a healthy, minimally modified natural estuary environment which sustains the local commercial fishing fleet, places home-caught fish on our dinner plates and allows us such an enviable lifestyle. 

Remember, it has always been concerned local residents, community groups and traditional owners who have been at the forefront in protecting the environmental, aesthetic, cultural, social and sustainable economic values of the Clarence River and its estuary.

Comment and participation in the survey can be done at  yourportcrownland.engagementhq.com until 9 April 2017.

Australia Infrastructure Development doesn't know its rivers

The Message from Iluka....

Clarence Valley Independent, June 2016:

Ed,

I read with some bewilderment that a “summit” had been held in Casino last week by AID (Australia Infrastructure Development) for the development of a mega port to accommodate massive ships in the Lower Clarence River.

Thought I’d Google here to see what is going on: www.aid-australia.com.au.

This proposal would completely destroy the lower Clarence.

It would appear to be a box ticking exercise as part of a formal application process to government.

Ticking the “community consultation” box.

Community consultation indeed!

This company has completely failed to consult the right communities.

Surely the business people and residents of Iluka, Yamba, Maclean, Grafton and all the smaller villages and islands along the river should have been the target audiences?

One would think the company’s “summit” might have been held in one of the fine clubs that are at Iluka, Yamba, or perhaps Maclean or Grafton, rather than Casino over 100kms away.

And hey, not even the right river! Casino is on the Richmond River. Go figure.

Perhaps AID just had some bad advice about matching the right town/s to the right river.

Or is this just being a tad sneaky? Trying to keep us all in the dark until the paperwork has been lodged.

Or worse still, trying to bluff us and the government that AID conducted extensive “community consultation”.

Either way, there will be huge opposition to this MEGA PORT proposal if it is ever considered.

Tony Belton, Iluka

The Message from Grafton....

The Daily Examiner, Letter to the Editor, 8 Jul 2016:

Ugly transformation

THE Yamba Port and Rail proposal first raised its ugly head three or four years ago, and now the promoters, Australian Infrastructure Developments, and Deakin Capital Pty Ltd, are ramping up the pressure, promoting their multi billion dollar, 36sqkm obscenity, which would completely transform the lower Clarence into an export port facility to rival Newcastle.

Gone would be the fishing, sugar and tourist industries that are the current economic drivers, replaced by heavy industry and its associated noise, air and water pollution, as huge freighters, tankers, and container ships, spewing their poisonous bilge sludge into the river as they go, replace the current pleasure craft and fishing vessels.

Gone would be the quiet relaxing retirement destination described in a series of Government development strategies over the past 20 years, as coastal villages of Iluka, and Harwood, along with communities on Palmers Island and elsewhere, are decimated to allow for the widening and dredging of the river estuary, to four times the current depth.

Gone would be the culturally significant Dirrangun Reef, sacred to the Yaegl people, as part of that massive dredging.

Gone would be the supposedly protected significant agricultural land on the delta, replaced by endless kilometres of wharfs and warehouses, and massive holding pens for the proposed live cattle export, their stench wafting over the urban centres of Yamba and Maclean.

And don't forget border security, with the proponents making provision for a naval base that, in the event of conflict, could see the area become an enemy target.

There are of course the obvious obstacles to such a scheme; the sacred reef, the unstable delta soils which will collapse into the river as a result of the dredging.

There are regular floods that will require mountains of fill to raise the entire project area above flood level, a barrier that is bound to divert those flood waters across Yamba, causing even worse flooding there.

Then there is the added problem of climate change and rising sea levels. Even a modest .75 of a metre within 80 years will see most of the land proposed for the industrial complex inundated at high tide, a situation that will worsen even further with the passage of time.

It's hard to take such a proposal seriously, but over the years we have heard reports that politicians, state and federal, various northern NSW councils, including some of our local councillors, meeting with the scheme's proponents. The Northern Star's report featuring a happy Australian Deputy Prime Minister, Barnaby Joyce, with arms around the proponents smiling for the cameras, adds a worrying dimension to this abhorrent proposal.

It's time for our leaders to come clean, tell us exactly what has, and is still being discussed behind closed doors, and if this proposal is pie in the sky, then to inform the proponents of that fact, and tell them to back off and put their foreign investment into something useful, like renewable energy.

John Edwards, South Grafton

The Message from Yamba....

CCRAP and the Adani Group

Adani Mining Pty Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of India's largest coal trader the Adani Group, intends to dig an enormous hole in the ground costing over $16 billion and the odd billion or two it can extract from gullible federal and state governments in Australia.

This hole known as the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project will comprise six open-cut pits and five underground mines; supported by five mine infrastructure areas, a coal handling and processing plant, a heavy industrial area, water-supply infrastructure, 189-kilometres of rail line (Adani has applied for a $1 billion loan from the Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund to build the rail link), as well as off-site infrastructure including a workers' accommodation village and airport.

All of this running roughly parallel with the Great Barrier Reef and the Abbott Point port required to ship all this coal overseas at considerable risk to fresh water security, coral sustainability and marine biodiversity.

http://envlaw.com.au/carmichael-coal-mine-case/

To facilitate its aim of environmental vandalism for corporate profit the Adani Group has registered the following companies which are all currently operating out of an office tower in Eagle Street, Brisbane:

Abbot Point Operations Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot Point Company Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot Point Holding Trust

Adani Abbot Point Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd

Adani Abbot Point Terminal Pty Ltd

Adani Australia Coal Terminal Finance Company Pty Ltd

Adani Australia Coal Terminal Holdings Pty Ltd

Adani Australia Coal Terminal Pty Ltd

Adani Australia Company Pty Ltd

Adani Australia Holding Trust

Adani Minerals Pty Ltd

Adani Mining Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Finance Company Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Holdings Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Network Holdings Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Network Holdings Trust

Carmichael Rail Network Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Network Trust

Carmichael Rail Pty Ltd

Carmichael Rail Pty Ltd

Galilee Transmission Holdings Pty Ltd

Galilee Transmission Holdings Trust

Galilee Transmission Pty Ltd

Mundra Port Holding Trust

Mundra Port Holdings Pty Ltd

Mundra Port Pty Ltd

Juice Media put this mocking video together to let the Adani family and the world know what many people in this country think of this mining scheme.

https://youtu.be/n_C8S4Bz91M

Thanks to Simon Chance for this link

Published on Dec 4, 2016

The Australian Government just released this advert about the proposed Carmichael Coal Mine and it's surprisingly honest and informative. 

6 WAYS YOU CAN HELP STOP CCRAP:

1. Tell PM Malcolm Turnbull you don't want your tax dollars to be used to subsidise CCRAP: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/gr...
2. Join GetUp!'s Fight for the Reef: https://fightforthereef.getup.org.au
3. Donate to the Wangan & Jagalingou defense fund: http://wanganjagalingou.com.au/donate
4. Follow the Wangan & Jagalingou on Facebook to keep up to date with the campaign to stop CCRAP on their lands: https://www.facebook.com/WanganandJag...
5. Find out more about the Wangain & Jagalingou traditional owners: http://wanganjagalingou.com.au
6. Share this video.☛ CREDITS: Written & created by Giordano. Performed by Matylda. Voice by Lucy. Thanks to Adso, Kajute, Miriam, Anthony, Adam, Benna, Damian, Dave and Dbot for helping out! Photos and Footage of Wangan & Jagalingou people used with permission from Wangan & Jagalingou Traditional Owners Family Council. ☛ Please SUPPORT the Juice Media to help us make more videos: https://www.patreon.com/TheJuiceMedia

BACKGROUND

Financial Review, 6 December 2016:

Challenges:

Finance – There is a reason the Galilee Basin has been left undeveloped for the past 50 years. For a start, it's close to 500 kilometres from ports on the coast, meaning whoever is going to build the project has to outlay billions of dollars to get the project built. And the quality of the coal is not as good as others in the closer Bowen and Surat Basin.

India's Adani Group also has to find $10 billion to finance the project. There are also questions raised about whether the project is economically viable after a plunge in the coal price following the end of the coal boom. But even though the price of thermal coal has recovered to above $100 a tonne in recent months, it is less relevant because Adani is using the coal for its own power stations rather than selling to other customers. The Institute of Energy Economics and Financial Analysis director Tim Buckley – a vocal critic of the project – says Adani's parent company is struggling with current market capitalisation of equity at $US1.1 billion, against which it has net debts of $US2.4 billion.

Environmentalists – Adani's Carmichael project has become the lightning rod for anti-fossil fuel activists and environmentalists who want to stop the building of any new coal mines in Australia. It also fits into the narrative about Australia's changing energy mix – from one dominated by coal and gas to renewable energy such as wind and solar. Environmentalists claim the extra coal exports will damage the World Heritage-protected Great Barrier Reef, although it has received environmental approval from both state and federal governments. As the Turnbull government releases its 2017 climate review this week, the argument over the Adani mega-mine also ties in with the debate about whether Australia,- which has one of the largest emissions per capita,- should be building another large coal mine that will release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Well-funded and media-savvy environmental groups have also been very effective in targeting banks about lending to the Carmichael mine. Some banks, under pressure to make sure they look like good corporate citizens, have promised not to lend to any future coal mines.

Legal activism – One of the reasons the project has been progressing at a snail's place the past seven years is because environmental and Indigenous groups have used the legal system to their advantage and challenged virtually every aspect of the project. The mining lease, environmental authority, and native title have been challenged by a range of parties, including the Australian Conservation Foundation, little-known group Coast & Country as well as Indigenous group, the Wangan and Jagalingou. They have successfully held up the project, resulting in the former Abbott government threatening to change the laws to make it harder to challenge big mining projects.

Last month, two legal challenges were thrown out of court, leaving three appeals – two before the full bench of the Federal Court over the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act and native title, and there is also a judicial review of Adani's port expansion at Abbot Point which has been brought by local residents in the Whitsundays – before the project can be given the green light.

Scandal  – The Adani Group has been plagued by allegations of corruption surrounding its projects in India. Adani Group chairman Gautam Adani is one of India's richest men, whose personal wealth was valued at $7.1 billion in 2014 by Forbes magazine. There have been allegations of environmental vandalism in relation to the development of the Port of Mundra, which is owned by Adani, as well as claims of tax evasion. Adani's Australian chief executive Jeyakumar Janakaraj has also been dragged into the scandal by failing to disclose his history running a mining company in Africa that pleaded guilty to serious economic harm. So far, none of these allegations have failed to bring down any of Adani's executives, but it adds to the controversy over the project.

UPDATE

ABC News, 21 December 2016:

Giant Indian conglomerate Adani, which plans to build one of the world's largest coal mines in Queensland's Galilee Basin, has set up a complex network of companies and trusts in Australia which are owned in one of the world's major tax havens, the Cayman Islands.

The Adani Group is also attempting to shift ownership of the existing Abbot Point coal port — which it bought for $1.8 billion — to a Singaporean company ultimately owned in the Cayman Islands.

An exhaustive search of company filings and documents across the globe has cast light on this opaque structure of ownership and control.

It has alarmed environmental activists and legal experts, who fear it could make it harder to gain compensation from Adani in the event of an environmental disaster from Adani's planned mine and port expansion on the edge of the Great Barrier Reef.

"I've been a businessman for most of my life, as well as an environmental activist, and the risks are great," said Geoff Cousins, former Optus CEO and chairman of the George Paterson advertising agency, now a board member of the Australian Conservation Foundation.

"With these kinds of approvals of big mining operations or port operations, you always get a set of conditions that the Government puts on.

"But those conditions aren't worth anything if, when something goes wrong, you try to find the company responsible and either it has no money or if it has money it's in a tax haven and you can't reach it."

It is a view echoed by David Chaikin, a professor of business law at the University of Sydney.

"The advantage of having the money in tax havens is that you are able to conceal the source of money, the use of money, and also to minimise tax," he said…..

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands……

Adani has created four companies and two trusts in Australia for the rail project.

The parent company for all these entities is Carmichael Rail and Port Singapore Holdings Pte Ltd, a company registered in Singapore where the corporate tax rate is 15 per cent.

This Singapore parent company is in turn owned by Atulya Resources Limited, a private company controlled by the Adani family and based in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The port expansion has a similar structure: five companies and two trusts in Australia, ultimately controlled by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

The vast expansion of the coal port planned by Adani has sparked enormous controversy.

It will involve dredging 1.1 million tonnes of spoil from the ocean near the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and poses a potential danger to the environmentally-sensitive reef, which is listed on the World Heritage Register.

Critics say the company structure set up by Adani raises serious concerns about the value of strict environmental approvals placed on the project.

Ownership of the existing Abbot Point Coal Terminal is in limbo.

Adani bought a 99-year lease over the coal port in 2011 for $1.8 billion through a company listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange, Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone Ltd (AZPEZ).

That company said it "sold" the port three years ago to a Singaporean-based Adani family company "subject to regulatory and lenders approvals".

But the sale has not been completed, because of objections by the State Bank of India, which lent Adani $US800 million ($1.1 billion) for the port purchase.

In its latest filings with the Australian corporate watchdog, Adani still lists the port as being owned by the Bombay-listed company.

But ASPEZ's 2016 annual report said it had "recorded the divestment" of the port to Abbot Point Port Holdings Pte Ltd, Singapore: an entity which lists as its sole director Vinod Shantilal Adani, the brother of Guatam Adani, head of the Adani Group, and which is ultimately owned by Atulya Resources in the Cayman Islands.

Transferring ownership of the critical port infrastructure to a Caymans Islands' company "means it will be unregulated, unaccountable," Tim Buckley, director of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analytics told the ABC.

"It will be non-transparent to the Australian Government as to what is going on, who owns it, who are the directors. To me it is a matter of national security."

Companies and trusts created by Adani for the proposed Carmichael mine are ultimately owned by Adani Enterprises, a publicly-listed company in India, but the control flows via a company registered in the tax haven of Mauritius, Adani Global Ltd.

Adani Global Ltd. is based at Suite 501 St James Court, St Denis Street in Port Louis, Mauritius, and since 1998 has operated as a subsidiary of Adani Enterprises Limited which was incorporated in March 1993 as Adani Exports Ltd with the name change effected in 2007.

In October 2010 Adani's Australian subsidiary, Adani Mining Pty Ltd, made an application for approval of the Carmichael Coal Mine and Rail Project.

On 14 October 2015 the Commonwealth Minister for the Environment granted approval of 'controlled action' subject to conditions following re-consideration of project under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999.

In 2014 Adani and Posco had agreed to build rail line in Australia and the following year Adani signed an MoU with Australia's Woodside Energy for Energy Cooperation.

Adani media release, 25 November 2016:

Adani welcomes court decisions Adani Group today welcomed decisions by the Queensland Supreme Court to dismiss activist lead appeals against the granting of a Mining Lease and an Environmental Authority in relation to the company’s planned $21 billion coal project. The company said the decisions were further positive steps towards starting work in the September Quarter 2017 on the Carmichael Mine in central western Queensland and associated projects – a near-400km rail line and port expansion at Abbott Point. Adani said it would now examine the full decision documents and make no further comment.

Adani letter to the Indian stock exchange, excerpt, 8 December 2016:

Live Mint, 21 December 2016:

Adani Enterprises Ltd is aiming to start production at its $16 billion integrated mining project in Australia by end of 2020, after facing a four-year delay because of stiff resistance from environmental groups. 

In an interview, group chairman Gautam Adani brushed aside concerns about the group’s indebtedness and said it was looking at investment opportunities in sectors such as defence, coal conversions and water. He added that the group continues to explore opportunities in the mining sector as it looks at an integrated “pit-to-plug” strategy encompassing mines, rail and the port sector. 

The Carmichael mines in Galilee, Australia, will produce about 25 million tonnes of coal a year in fiscal 2021. The group has invested close to $4.5 billion in the first phase, Adani said. It is planning to use the coal to fuel its Mundra and Udupi power plants. 

Adani also said he sees the ports business—one of the group’s most successful ventures so far—to meet its target of setting up 200 million tonnes of cargo handling capacity by the end of 2018, two years before schedule.