Dredge spoil may end up being dumped in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park if the Queensland government's plan to dump it onshore is knocked back.
The federal government has already approved a plan to dump one million cubic metres of spoil in the marine park, but the state government has proposed a plan B to deposit it on land.
That plan is now being considered by the federal government and challenged by the Alliance to Save Hinchinbrook in the Federal Court.
Premier Campbell Newman, on the election campaign trail in Townsville on Friday, suggested that it may be back to plan A if onshore dumping is knocked back.
"It's disappointing and somewhat curious that a group such as this one, is actually opposing something that's actually a better environmental outcome," he told reporters.
Mr Newman pointed out that proponents of the court challenge were frustrating his efforts to create jobs.
"The preferred option that many people have spoken about in the past is to go offshore, that's why the court action is not good for jobs and not good the environment."
The premier, speaking at a media conference with the chief executive of Indian company Adani Australia, also defended the government's decision to invest in Adani's $16.5 billion Carmichael project in the Galilee Basin.
"Governments have traditionally invested in Queensland to facilitate new major coal and mineral resource projects," Mr Newman said.
Adani Australia chief executive Jayakumar Janakuraj added that he was confident in his company's ability to find funding for the project, despite difficulties.
The Carmichael project is expected to bring $30 billion into Queensland and employ up to 5000 people when it is operational.
Queensland is due to go to the polls on January 31.
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