Adani mine needs $1bn public funding to go ahead, Barnaby Joyce says

Acting prime minister calls $900m concessional loan a 'tipping point issue' as Malcolm Turnbull meets Adani founder

The Adani Carmichael coalmine needs $1bn of government funds for a rail line because it is "a tipping point issue" to get the mine going, Barnaby Joyce has said.

The Nationals leader has given a full-throated defence of subsidising the mine, telling Radio National that Australians should support it because they are "citizens of the world" and warning those that oppose fossil fuels "if you live with the butterflies, you will die with the butterflies".