Adani Group's final investment decision on stage one of the Carmichael coal project would be exciting news but for the fact it is actually a next-to-final investment decision that awaits fulfilment of a funding mandate, whose precondition appears to be $900 million of Commonwealth funding.

The "green light" for Carmichael offered by billionaire proponent Gautam Adani comes little more than two weeks after his local agents warned Australians that boardroom discussion on definitive progress for Carmichael had been deferred indefinitely in the wake of dispute within the Queensland government over the royalty deferrals requested by the potential miner.