Queensland's new state government on Wednesday cleared plans by two Indian companies to expand a port for coal projects that are opposed by green groups worried about pollution and damage to the Great Barrier Reef.

The approval, supporting separate mining projects planned by Indian conglomerates Adani Enterprises and GVK, came as a surprise. The new Labor government had been seen as less supportive of the coal industry than its predecessor conservative government.

It's a responsible development decision, says Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczu. Credit:Glenn Hunt

The previous government, toppled in January in a stunning election outcome, had proposed spending taxpayers' money to help fund the Abbot Point port expansion and a rail line for Adani's Carmichael project in the untapped Galilee Basin.

The port expansion was to have involved dumping 3 million cubic metres of soil dredged at the port of Abbot Point into the sea about 25 km from the Great Barrier Reef.