Taking the green argument out of it for a bit.
Our governments for many years have never been any good at doing deals (other than ones they personally gain from). Impex was not good for Darwin, not many local jobs were given - hotels normally tourists would stay at were being used by FIFO that would fly home to spend their cash or fly to Bali to do the same.
So now the cleaner gas that Australia wanted was all going offshore, I think Turnball government just did a deal to keep some here for our domestic use - I don't know at what cost to the tax payer.
Now there is the next thing "TAX" remember Julia and her mates did that tax deal with the mining companies and the Mineral Resources Rent Tax was born for Iron Ore and Coal miners. Only problem was it was the miners version we ended up with and that meant they paid less tax than the little they did before.
Now I have seen no improvement in the quality of our elected leaders for decades and there is a real concern, this mine regardless of if it should go ahead or not could have bad and expensive consequences for Australia and Australians.
Is there a clause that we have access to some of this clean coal for our own use? if so at what cost and when?
What are the items that will be classed as tax write downs and when?
What are the terms and conditions in relation to payments for the coal? Is it a fixed % of the international coal price? Does our clean coal have a higher floor price.
What are the environmental rehabilitation terms and who holds that money? India or Australia.
I would hate to see a large mine in Australia that keeps having to put up funds for various parts of the project essentially giving coal away (that provides power for around 100 million people) to support around 1,400 Australian jobs "related" to this mining operation. Adani claimed over 10,000 related jobs but that has been rejected.
On the face of it, it seems Adani are using the value of the coal that is in the ground as its main share of the investment. And want us to pay for its transport to the port and maybe beyond.
I think it needs a closer look, then if it leads to a few more aviation jobs - then great.
Maybe Adani could buy some houses in the towns around and do some daily fly in and out in a few King Airs or similar to spread some of the $ billions, some of those towns near by need the support.