Mining giant Adani's Australian boss feels "emboldened" about moving forward with the controversial coal mine project in Queensland after meeting with state government representatives.
Adani Australia CEO Lucas Dow says he has had productive talks with the officials after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk ordered the meeting to thrash out a timeline on the coal mine approvals process.
"The constructive nature of the meeting has certainly emboldened us in terms of the level of support that were seeing from the Queensland government," Mr Dow told reporters on Thursday.
He said the mining giant was focused on moving forward with the coal mine in the Galilee Basin and felt they were closer to reaching more certainty on the project.
Mr Dow is looking forward to the premier making an announcement on Friday about the timeline for outstanding approvals for the Carmichael Mine.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
"We are not being pig-headed about finalising these plans and will work with state government officials as quickly as possible in order to move forward," he said.
Mr Dow said the company expected the mine would produce 1500 direct jobs during the construction phase and 6750 indirect jobs.
"What we are talking about is 8250 jobs that are going to exist in Queensland and in particularly regional Queensland that do not exist today," he said.
Asked about how many permanent jobs the mine would produce he said: "Our industrial relations strategy is one of being able to provide people certainty of employment and the ability to have full time employment".
CFMEU Queensland state secretary of the union's construction division, Michael Ravbar, warned the premier "risked being taken for a ride by a shonky multinational with a chequered corporate history".
In response to Mr Ravbar's statement, Mr Dow said he ran an Australian company.
"The company I run is an Australian 'Pyt Ltd' company," he said.
He said concerns about the automation of mining jobs was "one of the great lies" surrounding the project.
"There is no automation contemplated in our project," he said.
"We're not engaging in 457 visas, we're taking about jobs for Queenslanders, for regional Queenslanders."
