Anti-mining protesters have filed a complaint with Queensland's corruption watchdog in a bid to halt the expansion of an open-cut coal mine northwest of Toowoomba.
Lock the Gate Alliance announced on Tuesday they had lodged a "wide-ranging" complaint with the Crime and Corruption Commission.
The action group alleges the Acland mine proponent New Hope Corporation and its parent company donated about $950,000 to the Liberal Party during a period in which the Newman government reversed its opposition to the project's stage-three expansion.
"There is a cloud hanging over this project and the community cannot have any confidence that it has been approved on its merits until a thorough inquiry has been completed," LGA president Drew Hutton said.
Mr Hutton also urged the state government to make good on an election pitch to launch an inquiry into the relationship between political donations and approval processes.
The CCC confirmed it was assessing the complaint and no investigation had been commenced.
Meanwhile, New Hope strenuously denies trying to unduly sway legislators by contributing funds to the Liberal Party's federal secretariat between 2009 and 2013.
"These donations were made (because) of federal issues at the time, specifically the carbon tax and the minerals resource rent tax which negatively impacted the mining industry," a company statement read.
"Business donations to political parties in Australia are common practice (and) are fully declared on the publicly available donation registers."
The former Liberal National Party government also maintains the process was above board and says approval was granted due to modifications to the $900 million project's original proposal in 2010.
A spokesman from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk's office said a review into the expansion approval was ongoing.
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