Acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce says a rail line connecting the Adani Carmichael mine could turn Queensland's Galilee Basin into a "cash cow" for Australia.
The Indian company has applied for a $900 million concessional loan from the government's Northern Australia infrastructure fund to help build a line connecting the central Queensland mine and the Abbot Point port.
"It's a great idea isn't it," Mr Joyce told ABC radio on Tuesday, after Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull sat down with the company's founder and chairman Gautam Adani during a visit to India.
The mine would help directly employ about 3000 people - with a further 10,000 indirect jobs, he said.
"It's a great investment in getting people out of poverty," Mr Joyce said.
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Mr Joyce said the rail line could also help other Australian miners, opening up the Galilee Basin and turning it into a "cash cow".
"As well as turning on the power for other people in the world," he said.
The $16.5 billion investment from Adani would also be great for the region following the devastation of Cyclone Debbie, he said.
The company's Carmichael coal mine project in Queensland was approved in December but has faced serious opposition from environmental and indigenous groups.
"(People) sit down in the inner suburbs and say 'Well we're happy with our life we want you up in central Queensland to stay poorer than us', and that's not a view that I condone," Mr Joyce said.
Ahead of the meeting with Mr Adani, Mr Turnbull insisted a decision on the potential rail loan was going through an independent process.
It's understood Adani representatives mentioned the infrastructure fund during the meeting, but made it clear they understood any decision was independent of the government.
