Prime Minister Scott Morrison has compared Deputy Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek to former NSW Labor Michael Daley for her views raising questions over Adani's Indian owners being able to create jobs.
Mr Daley infamously accused Asians of taking Australian jobs during the recent NSW state election, comments that cost him the premiership.
Ms Plibersek said on Friday that the job numbers that the Adani mine is expected to generate are overstated.
"We can't rely on an Indian mining company to bring jobs to central and north Queensland," she told ABC radio.
The prime minister jumped on the remarks, saying NSW Labor has form on these matters.
He noted it took Opposition Leader Bill Shorten to condemn Mr Daley's Asian comments and only when he lost the state election.
"Now we've got Tanya Plibersek, the would-be deputy prime minister of the country, saying that Indians can't create jobs," he told reporters in Sydney.
