Paladin Hydrogen, owned by Queensland businessman Dave Hodgson, who credits his success with “doing God’s will, God’s way”, had planned to mine 1 million tonnes of coal per year near Fingal to fuel a proposed hydrogen plant at Bell Bay.
Mr Hodgson described his company’s takeover of the Valley Road mine as “a transformation of wealth from the wicked to the righteous”
Wtf ???
Tasmanian Greens mining spokesperson Tabatha Badger said it was “absolutely fantastic” that the coal mine was no longer going ahead.
We are in a climate crisis and coal mines have no place in Tasmania, indeed Australia.
Who is Dave Hodgson?
According to the website of Kingdom Initiatives — a company Mr Hodgson founded — he grew up in Africa in the 1960s and 70s and was conscripted into the army of Rhodesia (which became Zimbabwe in 1980).
He later joined the Selous Scouts — a special forces unit of the Rhodesian Army.
Caption: A photo purporting to show former members of the Rhodesian special forces, posted to the Facebook page of Kingdom Initiatives. (Facebook: Kingdom Initiatives)The website said that after Mr Hodgson left the special forces, he fought as a mercenary for two years before being “forced to leave Zimbabwe and [became] stateless”.
On the Kingdom Initiatives Facebook page, Mr Hodgson has posted about a tactic he learnt in the army — “infiltrate to remediate” — which he said could be applied to other pursuits, such as mining. Mr Hodgson has also spoken about his task being that of creating “sheep nations” — a biblical reference and something he described as having “a culture of sharing and caring”.
For that he needs “a lot of money and a lot of influence”, he told 10 Talent LeaderTalk podcast in October 2020.
He credits following “God’s will and God’s way” with his success in business, and has described his company’s takeover of the lease on the Valley Road mine as “a transformation of wealth from the wicked to the righteous”.
