Cameron Milner says he will no longer represent Adani to government as ALP prepares for an election

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

A key Queensland Labor strategist who lobbied over a five-year period for Adani has parted ways with the Indian mining giant in a bid to stop controversy dogging Annastacia Palaszczuk’s re-election campaign.

Cameron Milner has confirmed to the Guardian that his firm Next Level Strategic Services would no longer represent Adani in dealings with government as it looks to make its contentious proposal for Australia’s largest coalmine a reality.

Milner, who initially elected to keep Adani as a client while volunteering for the state Labor campaign ahead of a looming election, declined to comment further on reasons for the decision.

Details of royalty deal for mega mine are still being negotiated with Adani, says Queensland Read more

However, the Guardian understands Milner, a former state Labor secretary and chief of staff to federal Labor leader Bill Shorten, has indicated to the party that he does not wish to risk detracting further from Palaszczuk’s campaign by association.

He has chosen to continue volunteering with Labor instead of a role in which he lobbied Palaszsczuk, the deputy premier, Jackie Trad, and other senior ministers, including during a recent internal Labor blow-up over delayed royalty payments for Adani.

“I can confirm that is the case, that we no longer act for Adani,” Milner said.

Labor state secretary Evan Moorhead confirmed Milner would continue his role in Labor’s campaign.

The Guardian understands there had been no objections about his lobbying role from Palaszczuk, who may call an election for as early as next month.

Adani – which has been in the crossfire of conservationists for years over the proposed mine’s environmental impact through emissions and shipping through the Great Barrier Reef – has few significant regulatory hurdles to overcome.

One of the last of these was met last week with the compulsory acquisition of land – under the watch of the state coordinator general – for Adani’s 388km rail corridor linking the Galilee basin to its coastal port.

But Adani is still trying to clinch $5bn from overseas financiers for the coal project, as well as a concessional commonwealth infrastructure loan of up to $900m – federal government backing that could prove useful in reassuring private backers.

And Milner’s move is a concession that the Adani issue is biting Labor, if not in regional Queensland, then among its progressive inner-city base.



While Palaszczuk’s public support for the Carmichael mine resonates with regional voters hoping to benefit from mining jobs, the issue is a thorn in Labor’s side in parts of Brisbane. Anecdotal feedback from Labor campaigners includes vocal complaints from longtime supporters about state backing for Adani.

Milner’s dual role attracted mainstream media attention after activists used the issue to hijack several of Trad’s press conferences.

The Galilee Blockade activist group also released Milner’s number to its supporters, with hundreds phoning and texting through to ask him to drop Adani. The activists tried to set up a “Stop Adani” campaign office in the lobby of Labor’s state headquarters, then held a “family picnic” protest outside calling on Labor to drop Milner.

Ben Pennings, a spokesman for Galilee Blockade, said: “Concerned citizens forced Cameron Milner to drop Adani. Queensland Labor has been in bed with Adani too long and must drop Adani too.”

Kirsten Lovejoy, the Greens candidate for the inner-Brisbane seat of McConnell, said Adani “doesn’t seem to need a lobbyist anymore” and Labor was “moving into damage control”.

“They know people don’t want this disaster of a mine to go ahead and everyone is fed up with Labor and LNP only serving the interests of big corporations,” she said.

“Cameron Milner worked for Queensland Labor, then Adani, then Bill Shorten, then Adani again, and now Queensland Labor again. How can Queenslanders have any trust in Labor, or LNP for that matter, when they are so entwined with Adani?”

Lovejoy said Labor’s support for Adani included giving free unlimited water and “critical infrastructure” status, as well as its reluctance to use its “veto power” over the $900m commonwealth loan Adani is seeking.

Pennings said Labor “must use its veto power stop Turnbull and Barnaby throwing away a billion dollars of our money on a dirty industry in terminal decline”.

A Roy Morgan poll last Friday found the majority of Australians opposed Adani’s mine, including 60.5% of Queenslanders who had heard of the Indian mining giant.



Former federal Labor minister Peter Garrett, returning to Brisbane as frontman for Midnight Oil in a concert on Sunday night, gave some advice on Adani from the stage to Palaszczuk and Malcolm Turnbull.

Carmichael coalmine protests: 'Hang on, is it because it’s an Indian company?' Read more

“Having served in one of these buildings, I know what it is like,” Garrett reportedly said.

“I also know that governments can do things if people really want them to, and so, making sure that this water-swallowing robotised megamine doesn’t destroy the planet or the Great Barrier Reef is our number one task and we will not give in.”

Adani has publicly claimed significant recent progress in its plans but they still hinge on the $5b in finance from overseas.

Adani’s March deadline for financial closure on the coal project comes as the company also faces the challenge of refinancing more than $2bn debt on Abbot Point coal terminal, more than the port is worth.