Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is again an example that whenever anything is said that undermines the Greens credibility—and that does not take much—they will take frivolous points of order that are not even points of order, simply to prevent me from pointing out the dishonesty of the claims by green groups, the left wing of the Labor Party and the Greens political party.

They have these meetings and they then go out and misrepresent the position of banks, governments or whoever they have had the meeting with. Then they speak to their friends, fellow travellers, in the ABC or the Fairfax press and headlines like this come up: 'NAB the latest to rule out funding Adani's $16 billion Carmichael coal mine'. The ABC story goes on:

The National Australia Bank has become the latest to announce that it will not fund the Adani company's controversial—

in their words—

$16 billion Carmichael coal mine in Queensland's Galilee Basin.

The fact that Adani did not ask the National Australia Bank or any other Australian bank for funding did not seem to worry the headline writer in the ABC or TheSydney Morning Herald, who made a big deal about the National Australia Bank not funding a coalmine that it had not been asked to fund. Good heavens! And so it goes. It is typical of the Greens political party, GetUp!, the Wilderness Society and the Conservation Foundation, who support them and keep them in this place, to misrepresent the facts.

So I am delighted today to be able to table the letter from the National Australia Bank, which refutes entirely the sort of rubbish and lies that are being peddled by green groups about the financing of coalmines. The National Australia Bank and any other sensible banking institution around the world will continue to fund coalmines, because they recognise that coal is an important part of the energy mix, and it is particularly important for poor people, underprivileged people, people around the world who do not have the standard of living that we have in Australia. Coal is the energy source that will help these people out of poverty.

I am delighted to be able to apologise to the National Australia Bank—as I said I would if I had verballed them or if I had misunderstood. But, if you see the headlines from the ABC and TheSydney Morning Herald, you can understand why I got the wrong impression. I am quite happy to say that I was wrong about the National Australia Bank. The National Australia Bank, like any other sensible banking institution, will continue to fund coalmining in Australia. That is great for Australia; it is great for our economy; it is great for our style of living; and it is great for the jobs that that wonderful industry continues to provide for our country.