Economist says Australian MPs ‘abusing the term’ in applying it to any decision to pull approval for Carmichael mineA decision by a future Australian government to stop Adani from developing its Carmichael coalmine would not increase Australia’s sovereign risk, a new report argues. Economist Saul Eslake, who wrote the report for the Australian Conservation Foundation, found neither Australia’s sovereign rating, nor the ratings of states and territories, had ever been affected by environmental policy decisions made by governments, although such decisions could affect foreign investors. ACF commissioned the report to address the use of the words “sovereign risk” by federal MPs in relation to the Adani project. In March the opposition leader, Bill Shorten, said he did not like the Adani mine but scrapping it would be a sovereign risk. The resources minister, Matt Canavan, has described Shorten as “walking sovereign risk” for hardening his stance on the project.

Source: The Guardian May 20, 2018 21:11 UTC