Last week, QRC chief executive Michael Roche said the “latest comic book” from the environmental group had no credibility. He credited the organisation’s “scary monsters unit” with a campaign to shut down the Australian coal industry.

“Where the deputy premier was content to brush off Greenpeace’s findings and his responsibility for the future of our state with some casual name-calling, the Queensland Resources Council has engaged in active distortion of the facts,” Queensland Greens senate candidate Adam Stone said.

Queensland Greens said the QRC misrepresented the report in an effort to divert public concern.

The report suggested that if nine proposed coal mines in proximity to the Great Barrier Reef came online, they would potentially double Australia’s coal exports and make the region the world’s seventh dirtiest fossil fuel burner.

Greenpeace estimated the proposed Galilee Basin mines would produce 330 million tonnes per annum of coal in total, resulting in increased threats to the environment.