A Turnbull government minister has launched a blistering attack on the Greens over the minor party's opposition to the planned Adani Carmichael coal mine in north Queensland.
Resources Minister Matt Canavan said the Greens and "their friends" in the advocacy GetUp! were engaging in xenophobia and dog whistling about India, home to the mine's backers Adani.
"It is the worst kind of dog whistling, as worse, if not worse, than One Nation," he told reporters in Canberra on Tuesday.
The minister also took a swipe at the Queensland state government which has yet to settle on a royalties arrangement with Adani and support for a rail line from the Galilee Basin mine to a shipping port.
"What it's all delivering is uncertainty and confusion for the people of north Queensland who just want economic opportunity and just want a job and most of all want a Queensland government that can lead," Senator Canavan said.
