It was always going to be awkward.

Queensland’s premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, walked a thin political line on Friday, hosting a lunch with the US vice president turned climate activist, Al Gore, without mentioning the word Adani.

Nevertheless, the mining company’s name and all that it has come to represent loomed large in a room filled with the state’s most influential business and political leaders.

Gore declared Queensland to be ground zero of change – “This is the place where the future is unfolding” – and praised Palaszczuk for her leadership. She spoke of natural disasters and a transition to renewables, and admitted resources sustained her state’s existence.

“In Queensland, we are, and will continue to be, a state where minerals that sustain human existence are dug from the ground,” she said.

“Ever since James Nash discovered gold near Gympie in 1867, Queensland has been a resources state. Whether it is copper, silver, lead and zinc from Mount Isa, copper and gold at Gympie and then Mount Morgan, or the world’s best metallurgical coal from the Bowen Basin west of Mackay, Queensland’s history is built on resources.

“As long as the world needs steel, we will need iron ore and metallurgical coal to make it.”

Labor lost two seats in Queensland at the May federal election, but it was the swing against Labor in central and north Queensland which has the state government, and the federal opposition, spooked.

Having been weaponised by both sides of politics, Adani has aggressively gone on the offensive to protest about the delays in its approvals. The dust had not even begun to settle after the election before Palaszczuk was on a plane north, promising to set an approval time line for the mine.

That last state approval is due on 13 June. It made Gore’s taxpayer-subsidised climate change training in the capital somewhat awkward for the government, turning a once celebrated and anticipated climate-themed week into the political equivalent of a nervous laugh.

Palaszczuk pointed to the state’s progress in reaching its 50% renewables target by 2030. Gore welcomed Queensland’s progress. He echoed comments he made in an interview with Guardian Australia about the need to move towards more progressive climate change polices. And while he remains too much of a politician to embarrass his host, he acknowledged the Adani conundrum without saying the word.

“You could make this your future,” he said of renewable energy.

“Build a nationwide grid. You could export renewable electricity by long distance high capacity … cables to Indonesia. To Singapore. To other nations hungry for non-polluting energy. Energy does not contribute to the destruction of humanity’s future.

“You could use zero marginal cost electricity which you already have, for several hours of many days, you could have it in abundance to operate the high school chemistry equations which convert water into hydrogen and oxygen and use hydrogen as a conveyor and storage medium for energy and export it to the rest of the world, starting with Japan.

“… But the nation has to make a decision.

“Will you educate the engineers that you need? Will you build the infrastructure that is necessary?

“Will you avoid the opportunity cost of still going after dinosaur projects of the past? That is all I am going to say.

“I’m encouraged; I am optimistic. I truly believe that Queensland is showing the way for humanity’s bright and hopeful future. I said that the jury is still out, but I am optimistic.”

But Gore did not receive answers to his questions. Neither did anyone else. Unusually for one of these events, there was no question section for anyone in the audience.

Gore left to continue his Climate Reality training as scheduled. Palaszczuk was whisked away by her staff, avoiding journalists.

That was answer enough.