Whatever the merits of Clive Palmer seeking to build an open-cast coal mine just 10 kilometres from the sensitive edges of the Coral Sea, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s use of the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to stop it could leave up to 18 other fossil fuel projects across the country stranded in new legal challenges.

The mine was to export coking coal, for which there is no real alternative even as thermal coal is phased out. The axing, the first ever on habitat protection grounds, just adds to fast-rising hurdles against fossil fuel investment in price caps, new taxes, and new green-tape regulation that could make it harder to build a bridge to a new green economy.