Polling released on Sunday shows Australians are mostly opposed to Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, and even more strongly opposed to it getting any government assistance.
The ReachTel poll, commissioned by The Australia Institute, also shows Australians think a loan to Adani from the Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility would damage the country’s reputation – a fact that if “likely” to be true, would make the loan unlawful.
Asked simply whether they support or oppose the construction of Adani’s Carmichael coalmine, about 50% more respondents were opposed to it than supported it.
Of the 1,421 respondents 30% said they supported the mine, while 44% opposed it. However, 26% of respondents to the survey conducted in late September said they weren’t sure. Just 16% said they supported a taxpayer loan to assist construction of the mine, with 68% opposing it.
On Saturday, the Guardian reported on a larger poll conducted more recently, showing 55.6% opposed to the mine.
In the poll released today on Sunday, a clear majority of people – 58% – said they thought such a loan would damage the government’s reputation.
Naif’s investment mandate says it “has a responsibility to act in a way that is not likely to cause damage to the Australian government’s reputation”.
Other agencies, such as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, operate under almost identical conditions.
In July, Oliver Yates, who was the chief executive of the CEFC since its inception in 2012 until May this year, told the Guardian that the Naif loan should never have progressed past the initial inspection by the Naif board, since it did not pass the reputation test.
If the loan is likely to cause reputationdamage, it would be unlawful.
Just over half the respondents from Sunday’s poll said they would support a new rule that prevented Naif, or other similar agencies, supporting mining projects in Australia – while only 24% opposed such a rule.
However, contrary to the apparent wishes of the public, and in the face of private banks increasingly being unwilling to back coalmines, the Turnbull government last month overturned a rule that had been in place for several years stopping another government agency – the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation – from loaning money to mining operations.
“This polling shows not just that taxpayer subsidies for Adani are deeply unpopular, but that more Australians oppose than support the mine going ahead, regardless of subsidies,” said the deputy director of the Australia Institute, Ebony Bennett.
“The strong support or opposition, a better indicator of an issue being a vote-changer, shows just 8% strongly support while 23% strongly oppose the mine,” she said.
“Politicians – both state and federal – have spent a lot of time and political capital promoting Adani and the mine, but the campaign has backfired, with opposition strengthening.
“Previous Australia Institute polling in shows opposition to subsidies has grown to 68%, up from 64% in May 2017.”
