Deputy PM on attack over Adani mine loan

A government backbencher will ask parliament today to support the planned Adani coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin and reject further delays.

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce

Barnaby Joyce has ramped up his attack on Bill Shorten over his opposition to a loan for Adani. (AAP)

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has ramped up his attack against Bill Shorten over the Labor leader's opposition to a concessional loan for Indian mining giant Adani which wants to develop a coal mine in north Queensland.

Mr Shorten had turned his back on miners to curry favour with left-wing campaigners and inner-suburban votes, the Nationals leader said.

"He can show his colours, see if he's fair dinkum, or if he's just going to blow in the breeze and be Arthur and Martha and everything in between," Mr Joyce told ABC radio on Monday.

"I don't think Bill Shorten is a very strong sort of fella, he hasn't got the ticker to stand up, and that's a shame because there are jobs."

Liberal MP Rowan Ramsey will put forward a motion to the House of Representatives on Monday calling for expressions of support for Adani's decision to purchase $74 million in steel rail from Arrium's Whyalla steelworks.

Green MP Adam Bandt is urging the prime minister to "stop being beholden to the Trumps on his backbench" in support of the mine.

"If the Liberal government federally or the Labor government in Queensland allows the Adani coal mine to go ahead then they're not serious about climate change," he told reporters.

Mr Bandt's comments come as US President Donald Trump left a meeting of G7 leaders in uncertainty last week, refusing to express support for the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Mr Ramsey's motion also calls for rejections of any attempts to delay the Adani project.

But Mr Bandt warned if the coal mine went ahead it would put at risk the 60, 000 jobs that depended on the health of the Great Barrier Reef.

"I urge Bill Shorten not to be a climate change chicken and to take sides on the Adani coal mine," he said.

Despite Labor politicians Lisa Singh, David Feeney and Peter Khalil speaking out against the project last week, opposition frontbencher Jenny Macklin said Labor's position on the issue was absolutely clear.

"We don't believe in public money being spent on Adani. It needs to stack up economically and environmentally," she said.


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Source: AAP


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Deputy PM on attack over Adani mine loan | SBS News