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Dozens of Brisbane people are expected to gather outside the Queensland parliament on 4 April to protest against the Labor state government’s granting Indian mining giant Adani a license to build Australia’s largest coal mine and the world's biggest coal port on the Great Barrier Reef coast. The project has already been approved by the ultra-conservative, pro-big-business federal government, although two court cases, from Aboriginal traditional owners and the Australian Conservation Foundation, are still ongoing. The decision comes as the worst mass coral bleaching on record has hit the iconic Reef, one of Australia’s major tourist attractions and a world heritage site listed by the United Nations.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk’s minority government is on shaky ground, needing three votes from non-Labor members of parliament to pass every piece of legislation. A poll has found a majority of Queenslanders wanting Palaszczuk to call a snap election.

Palaszczuk claims there has been extensive government and community scrutiny of the project and she has decided that benefits outweigh challenges. She said stringent controls would continue to protect the environment and the Great Barrier Reef, as well as the interests of landholders and traditional owners. "We are talking about thousands and thousands of jobs - 5,000 jobs from this project during construction and another 4,500 during the peak of its operations - it means jobs for local people as well," she said.

Adani job creation figures have been the subject of debate since last year after revelations in court found the mega-mine would create 1,464 jobs per year, not the 10,000 jobs figure that was commonly associated with the project.

Environmental groups slam the mine approvals as the resources sector celebrates them. One of the groups driving the planned Brisbane protests is 350.org.au, which opposes all fossil fuels.

“We know that the mining and burning of coal is destroying the Reef and we know that we must keep fossil fuels in the ground if we want to avoid dangerous global warming. Yet, the Queensland and federal governments are intent on giving the coal industry everything they need to dig more coal out of the ground and wreck our precious Reef,” they say on their website.

“Stopping the proposed Galilee Coal mines in central Queensland is one of the most important fossil fuel fights on the planet. If the Galilee Basin was a country it would be the seventh largest source of carbon emissions — it’s a veritable ticking carbon bomb. What’s more this monstrous project would require a major expansion of Abbot Point port, which sits on the edge of our precious Great Barrier Reef. The mines would triple our emissions and require construction of the world’s largest coal port at Abbot Point.” Abbot Point is near the town of Bowen, 990 km north of Brisbane.

“As global temperatures hit terrifying levels and the Reef turns a deathly white, the absurdity of Anastacia Paluszczuk’s government approving this monstrous coal project cannot be understated,” said 350.org.au campaigner, Moira Williams.

“Queenslanders are sick and tired of their government putting the Reef and our future second to the mining industry. The Paluszczuk government was elected on a mandate to protect the Reef. Instead, they are giving the coal industry a leg-up to trash it.”

The Australian Conservation Foundation has questioned whether Adani pressured Queensland's mines minister to grant the approvals. ACF chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy recalled Mines Minister Anthony Lynham saying in February that he was reluctant to issue mining licences while there were outstanding legal cases. “Has he been pressured to go against his better judgment by Adani? It's strange." The ACF case is set down for a Federal Court hearing in early May, while the traditional owners are still awaiting a ruling by Federal Court Justice John Reeves, who reserved his decision after a hearing in February. 

The Wangan and Jagalingou traditional owners have gone to the Federal Court seeking a judicial review of a decision by the National Native Title Tribunal to issue leases associated with the mine. "This is a disgraceful new low in the exercise of government power at the expense of traditional owners' rights. Minister Lynham and Premier Palaszczuk should hang their heads in shame. History will condemn them," community spokesman, Adrian Burragubba said.

He points out that the mine would include six huge open cut pits and five underground mines. It would be more than 45 kilometres long and would destroy more than 280 square kilometres of their land. There would also be a railway passing through their land to the coast.

Adani says it won't commit to the project until the court challenges by what it calls "politically-motivated activists" are resolved. India's finance minister Arun Jaitley has weighed in on the dispute, saying activist-driven delays to coal projects aren't just an Australian phenomenon.