$1bn for the Adani coalmine? Ordinary Australians understand economics better than Turnbull

Malcolm Turnbull - once
agile, but now mired
in a market driven mess.
 

If Malcolm Turnbull does provide $1bn in taxpayer support to the Adani Carmichael coalmine via the Northern AustraliaInfrastructure Facility (NAIF) it will show that while the prime minister may have lost many things in the past 12 months, he has not lost his agility.

The man who once staked his leadership on the need for Kevin Rudd’s carbon price will be the champion of subsidising the world’s largest new coalmine.

Never before has one announcement destroyed so many political cliches, so quickly, for so little political gain. In offering public money to subsidise the major cause of climate change, the PM simultaneously kills the idea that the Coalition is concerned about excessive public spending AND that they believe the world is committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. So much for faith in the market, the need to embrace the technologies of the future and the idea that our cities are the engine of prosperity and productivity.

Read Ben Oquist’s story on The Guardian - “$1bn for the Adani coalmine? Ordinary Australians understand economics better than Turnbull.”