First it was the remaking of the Titanic, now it's an even bigger gamble – building a new coal-fired power station in Australia.

Former politician and Queensland businessman Clive Palmer's plans to build a $1.5 billion ultra supercritical coal-fired power station in the Galilee Basin, about 500 kilometres from the coast, have been met with a mixture of disbelief and cynicism about whether the unlikely project will see the light of day.