this is the key bit from the March statement Baillieu made:'and...

this is the key bit from the March statement Baillieu made:

'and the countries and the companies that have been talking to the Government, they want to demonstrate that the technology that they have will work and will produce results, and we would anticipate that those who take allocations will also provide for investment in the infrastructure needed to do what they wish to do, depending on the product'

Baillieu talks of 'countries' and 'companies' that had been 'talking to the Government', and then contemplates those entities delivering enough investment muscle to provide export infrastructure for Victorian Brown coal. Billions of dollars will be required.

Ted's bombshell about creating a brown coal export industry from scratch in Victoria came less than 4 weeks after he was in India in February 2012. It is a fair bet that India is the 'country' he mentioned.

So who is the 'company'?

The only coal upgrade tech on Ted's Indian tour that has brown coal export plans is exergen.

Exergen's backers include India's largest corporation Tata, Japanese giant Itochu, and the leading Australian coal infrastructure engineers - the Thiess/Sedgman JV.

These are fairly obviously the 'companies' Ted thinks can set up a Victorian brown coal export industry.

The comparative advantage the technical and fiscal firepower exergen's backers offer to the brown coal export agenda is overwhelming.