Major Australian banks have been under pressure to rule out funding Adani's controversial Carmichael mine, but the former CEO of Australia's second-biggest miner says the Indian giant does not need their money anyway.
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Speaking at a business lunch in Brisbane, former Rio Tinto chief executive Sam Walsh described the idea the company needed australian banks to get the Galilee Basin project off the ground as a "furphy".
"I don't believe Adani actually needs any finance from any Australian bank," he said, adding finance would likely come from overseas.
Resources Minister and apparently soon-to-be former Westpac customer Matt Canavan branded the company "wimps" after it ruled out funding the mine after intense lobbying from Adani opponents, who also cast doubt on its financial viability.
Government funding for the Galilee Basin has also been a hot topic, with a "royalties deal" offered by the Queensland government proving particularly controversial and sparking a major split within Labor.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, who has been under attack since in the biggest test of her leadership, refused to take questions about the saga when she faced the media on Wednesday before State Parliament.
Under the royalties holiday, which could cost taxpayers up to $320 million, it was understood Adani would gradually increase its payments over the life of the $16 billion mine in the Galilee Basin.
Labor's Left faction had so far blocked the deal on the basis it would break a pre-election commitment.
The turmoil came as Mr Walsh drew a distinction between assistance for the Adani project and more than $100 million of state government funding used to bring its Comalco aluminium plant to Gladstone.
"In the case of Adani's coal operations, they're here. They can't be anywhere else in the world," he said, speaking at the Queensland University of Technology Business Leaders' Forum.
"In relation to the alumina refinery at Gladstone, it could be anywhere in the world. And remember when that refinery was built it was the first refinery built anywhere in the world for 20 years.
"So it was a major achievement of Peter Beattie's Queensland government that that project actually landed here."
The Gladstone refinery, along with a $10 million deal to bring Virgin Australia to Brisbane, had been held up by Adani supporters as positive examples of taxpayer funds supporting industry.
- With AAP
