(Bloomberg) -- A surprise election victory for Australia’s pro-coal ruling Coalition is ratcheting up pressure on the Queensland state government to approve development in one of the biggest untapped reserves of the fossil fuel.

Adani Group’s Carmichael coal project is located in Australia’s huge Galilee Basin, which if fully developed, has the potential to more than double Australia’s thermal coal exports. The opposition Labor Party, which fought on a platform advocating tougher action to combat climate change, has been accused by the Indian company of putting roadblocks in the way of the project and will itself face voters in 2020.

“It’s an issue that they’ve tried to walk a tightrope on for quite some time,” said Chris Salisbury, a professor at the School of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Queensland, referring to the Queensland Labor party. “It might be getting to crunch time now.”

Adani has federal approval to move forward, but the state government has still to sign off on two of the company’s management plans that have been slowed over environmental concerns, with consent required before work on the project can start.

Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk played down Carmichael approval as a contributing factor to Labor’s defeat in the election, in comments to the local media Sunday, but acknowledged that the party needed to focus more on job creation. Labor may risk further erosion of support in areas which rely on the mining industry for jobs if it continues its perceived go-slow on the issue.

To read more about the world’s most controversial coal mine, click here.

“Queenslanders have sent a very strong message this Saturday,” Adani Australia Chief Executive Officer Lucas Dow said in a video message on the company’s Twitter page. “It’s now time for the Queensland government to hear that message.”

The Carmichael project was first proposed in 2010 but has been hampered by regulatory delays and difficulty in securing financing amid a passionate environmental protest movement.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Thornhill in Sydney at jthornhill3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Ramsey Al-Rikabi at ralrikabi@bloomberg.net, Aaron Clark, Rebecca Keenan

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