Queenslanders' right to object to mining projects — including coal — would be "gutted" by new state legislation, activists say, as Guardian Australia reports: the bill would stop opponents being heard in court without the minister's approval, and then only if they hold property within 125 kilometres of the project. Under current law, an objection to a mining project is automatically referred to the Land Court for independent consideration; the change hands the referral decision to the resources minister for mining leases, and to the environment department's director-general for environmental approvals.

Natural Resources and Mines Minister Dale Last tabled the Mineral Resources Objections Reform and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026 on Tuesday, saying it was "about streamlining approvals and making faster decisions". "Activists based thousands of kilometres away and green groups funded by foreign overseas entities are no longer eligible to have a say," he said. "Objections received from a person or group outside the 125km boundary whose interests would not be affected will no longer be accepted." In the government's accompanying statement he went further, describing "environmental lawfare driven by activists based in Melbourne" and promising the bill would "put an end to the madness" of automatic Land Court referrals — while maintaining what the government calls Queensland's world-class environmental standards.

The reaction from the other side was immediate. The Greens called the move "corrupt". Lock the Gate Alliance national coordinator Ellen Roberts said the government was "tearing up democratic and environmental protections just to make life easier for mining companies — it is following Campbell Newman's playbook to the letter". Queensland produces most of Australia's coal and runs the country's second-largest mining industry behind Western Australia.

Anthony Gough, acting director of the Queensland Conservation Council, said the change would let the minister of the day "pick and choose which community objections get heard in open court, and which mines get waved through without that scrutiny". Most objections, he argued, come from locals: "The vast majority of objections are made by local groups and landholders to protect agricultural land as well as local bushland, native habitat or water resources. It was this process that led to the cessation of sand mining on World Heritage-listed K'gari." Queenslanders, he said, "shouldn't be denied that right simply because they live more than 125km away from a particular mine".

The minister's chief exhibit is the New Acland coal mine expansion, whose legal battle ran 11 years and reached the High Court — "a debacle", Mr Last told parliament, that shows "this process has to change". The farmers who fought that case read it differently. A spokesperson for the Oakey Coal Action Alliance said the group had won its right to be heard at the High Court: "As is evident now, King Coal also heard and had the Queensland Government change the laws so we could not win again."

The bill lands after the government last year cancelled a months-long independent Queensland Law Reform Commission review of mining-objection laws, weeks before its findings were due, replacing it with a cabinet subcommittee review. It also follows a pattern critics point to: the government expanded objection rights against windfarm planning approvals last year, and recently passed legislation allowing compulsory acquisition of land for coal mining.

Industry, for its part, is pleased. The Association of Mining and Exploration Companies' chief executive Warren Pearce welcomed the reforms as "an important step towards a more efficient and workable approvals system", arguing they "should help reduce unnecessary delay and uncertainty while maintaining appropriate opportunities for genuine community concerns to be considered". The bill now sits before parliament — where Queensland's single chamber means the government's numbers will decide it.