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No public funding in Adani’s coal mine: Australia PM Malcolm Turnbull

There is no public funding for Adani’s $21.7 billion coal mine project, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said as he sought to assure a protester dressed in a fish costume that he took climate change “as seriously as you”.Turnbull made these remarks during an election campaign in South Australia. An environmental protester dressed as the clown fish from animated movie Finding Nemo asked him to commit to no public funding for Indian mining giant Adani’s controversial project.“There’s no public funding in Adani’s coal mine,” Turnbull said. He told the protester that he took climate change “as seriously as you”.

Echoing similar sentiments, Greenpeace Australia Pacific reef campaigner Shani Tager said, “While this off-the-cuff comment is welcome, the prime minister still needs to announce a credible environmental policy to protect the reef from the dangers of coal for future generations.” “Carmichael would be a complete disaster for the climate and the Great Barrier Reef and we welcome this position from the prime minister. Malcolm Turnbull and Bill Shorten are right to rule out throwing taxpayers money at this disastrous project.”“The Carmichael mine would mean more dredging in the Great Barrier Reef, more ships through its waters and more carbon emissions at a time when the reef is suffering from its worst ever bleaching,” Tager said.