Geoff Cousins reveals how Bill Shorten wavered on Adani mine

Opposition leader assured environmentalist he would commit Labor to revoking the licence for the controversial coal project, but then faltered

The businessman and environmentalist Geoff Cousins is absolutely unequivocal.

He said the federal Labor leader Bill Shorten called him, just before Christmas last year, looking for help in how Labor might strengthen its policy on the controversial Adani coalmine – and then Shorten followed up several times since, asking to be given more time to convince colleagues to support the shift in position.

Related: Labor prepared to revoke Adani coalmine licence if elected, says Cousins

Related: Labor's fence-sitting on Adani has become a double backflip | Katharine Murphy

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Related: Labor can unify the left by opposing Adani, but it can't forget its blue-collar base | Peter Lewis