John Quiggin in The Guardian (29.15) argues that:
‘With the election behind us, and the LNP out of office, this bonanza has suddenly shrunk. Appearing in the land court of Queensland, Adani’s economic consultant, Jerome Fahrer of ACIL Allen, presented modelling estimating that the project would create a grand total of 483 extra jobs in the Mackay Isaacs Whitsunday region, where the proposed mine, rail line and port are located. Another 1,000 or so jobs are modelled to be generated elsewhere in Australia.
‘An increase in employment of almost 500 jobs is trivial in the context of region where total employment is around 80,000. It would be swamped by minor fluctuations in the regional economy, not to mention the adverse impact that might arise if the Great Barrier Reef incurred serious damage from the project and the carbon emissions it would generate.’