The president and CEO of German multinational conglomerate Siemens, Joe Kaeser, has told a press conference in Munich that the company might have taken the decision not to get involved in the Carmichael coal project had it been aware of anti-coal sentiments in the region.
Siemens in December last year inked a contract with Indian major Adani to provide signalling for the project, a move which has caused a significant backlash from environmental groups.
Siemens in January decided to uphold the contract, with Kaeser explaining at the time that the Carmichael project had been approved by both the local and federal governments, Australian courts and the indigenous people in the region, with the environmental approvals process including a number of public consultations.
Kaeser said that correspondence from then Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matthew Canavan, had also indicated that the Australian people had "clearly voted to support Adani at the federal election in May 2019, especially in regional Queensland", and that it "would be an insult to the working people of Australia and the growing needs of India to bow to the pressure of anti-Adani protestors".