Shorten dismisses Adani coal mine loan

Australian taxpayers should not be providing an almost $1 billion loan to build the Adani Carmichael coal mine, the federal opposition leader says.

Following news Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met with the Indian multinational company to discuss a project that is claimed to "unlock tens of thousands of jobs", Bill Shorten says "the case is not yet made" for the concessional loan.

"The fact of the matter is that we hope Adani can stack up and there are some jobs created for mining and related construction workers. But the case is not yet made for taxpayers to provide a low concession rate of $1 billion to an Indian multinational mining company," he told reporters on Sunday.

"If this deal is such a good deal, why does it need the taxpayers of Australia to underwrite it?"