When Anna Bligh put on the hard hat she inherited from Beattie with the Premier's job at a press conference to announce the declaration of a "Project of significance" in Queensland, she was beaming, she looked like the Cheshire cat and she thought that bypassing normal approval processes with the declaration would see income from the Galilee basin coal projects soon flowing into the coffers of a very broke State Government.
But how the plans of mice and men go sour, A court has just ruled in favour of another mining company who's lease is in between the Basin and the Port and which would have had a significant amount of land resumed for the project and which would have severely compromised their operation.
The declaration, initially made in July, gave Ms Reinhard's Hancock Coal a ''defined corridor'' within which it could continue to examine the feasibility of its $5.5 billion Alpha and $6.5 billion Kevin's Corner projects in the Galilee Basin.
Ruling on an application by QCoal, against Minister Hinchliffe, Justice Margaret Wilson yesterday ordered that the declaration of ''the Hancock Coal-Alpha Coal rail corridor as an infrastructure facility of significance to Queensland, the Galilee Basin and Abbot Point regions . . . be quashed''.
QCoal runs the Sonoma mine in the northern Bowen Basin
The ballsy miners took on the State Government's minister, questioned the declaration and have had it quashed and after negotiations between lawyers representing QCoal and Mr Hinchliffe with counsel for Mr Hinchliffe, in the end, not opposing the court's order in a tacit admission that the declaration had been mishandled.
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall, because the reasons for the stuff up have not been released as yet, so we do not know the actual reasons for the judgement.
One thing you can be sure of, Ministers dined aboard Gina Reinhardt's luxury ship, the premier had intimate meetings with Ms Reinhardt herself, and the result was that the declaration was made and that we the Taxpayer would shell out for the acquiring of land and building a rail corridor to the Port for the transport of coal from at least the two main projects at Alpha and Kevin's Corner in the giant Galilee Basin.
This will be a blow for Bligh, she has once again come unstuck short cutting the processes to have her power demonstrated for all to see, there is no upper house to challenge her decisions, and that means no safety net to keep us taxpayers from forking out, but unfortunately for Bligh it also means no one else to blame.
There is no doubt that even though Labor Party members are very good at obeying and that we know there has been a gag order about the Queensland leadership, that the members and the rank and file are thinking and waiting for an opportunity to do to Bligh exactly what Gillard did to Rudd.
Bligh is a Lame Duck.
4 comments:
Bligh and her cronies must wield a big stick in the backroom caucus meetings because no one's saying much in public except Judy Spence and she's always seemed to me to be as dumb as dogshit.
My thoughts are that they will continue with Bligh until just before the election and then put Fraser into the firing line like they did with the amalgamations.
No one seems to like Fraser, not in his party and not anywhere else, but he also seems to be a bully who has some little thing on everyone and makes threats to spill the beans if they cross him.
Fraser or Bligh, I'm still voting for the others , I've had enough and I can't afford Labor anymore.
Fraser suffers from small mans syndrome, however the tip is the A/T general Cameron Dick. I just wish that the opposition would just do something to enthuse the state instead of nothing.JP to go and take the BORG also, with Nicholson to take over sooner than later.
Just shows how absolutely fickle this all is. Bligh is so blinded by her mining mates glitz she is now stepping on their toes.
Meanwhile what of the future for the landowners, workers and communities of the region while all this plays out? Watch out for those wild cards Anna!!
Geez at this rate even the Qld First party might be a chance against both of the senior parties. Langbroek anf Bligh ought to hang their heads in shame for their performances over the past 2 years
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