A document obtained by the Australian Financial Review spells out a plan to prevent a “global climate change tipping point” created by the development of the Australian coal industry by tying up project approval processes in litigation and creating investor uncertainty.

“By disrupting and delaying key projects, we are likely to make at least some of them unviable,” according to the document, which is called Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom and is quoted in the AFR. “The first priority is to get in front of critical projects to slow them down in the approval process.

“Our strategy is to disrupt and delay key projects and infrastructure while gradually eroding public and political support for industry and continually building the power of the movement to win more,” the document reportedly says.

“We are seeking investment to help us build a nationwide coal campaign that functions like an orchestra, with a large number of different voices combining together into a powerful symphony.”

The NSW Minerals Council said the clandestine campaign by activists and greens groups to stop the coal industry, discredit the NSW government’s strategic regional land use plans and create uncertainty about investing in regional NSW had been exposed.

The multi-million dollar strategy detailed specific plans to target the proposed new coal loader in Newcastle and infrastructure and mines in the Hunter Valley where more than 18,000 people were employed in mining, it said.

NSW Minerals Council CEO Stephen Galilee said it was time that these groups “came clean about their true intentions and motivations”.

“It’s especially worrying that these activists had decided to oppose the strategic regional land use plans before they were released. The NSW government has set out to minimise land use conflicts and these groups want to inflame them.

“We’re also extremely concerned about the way that genuine concerns about the impacts of mining are being cynically hijacked and manipulated.

“It goes against the collaborative approach underway to address the cumulative impacts of mining in the Upper Hunter. The coal industry is growing and that’s why we are working with the community, government, business and even mining activists to address issues arising from that growth.

“If implemented, the activities outlined in this campaign will cost jobs, growth and investment in NSW, at a time when the economy can least afford it.

“It is a deliberate and reckless attempt to sabotage this state’s biggest export industry and cause untold damage to the NSW budget and the NSW economy.

“An attack on the coal industry will be felt right across the economy.

“This is a threat to the national interest. We should be having a national discussion about productivity and building the resilience of our economy, not scheming to bring down one of our star economic performers.”

The Australian Coal Association said it was deeply concerned by the details of a campaign to stop Australia’s coal export industry.

ACA chief executive Dr Nikki Williams said the detailed strategy to raise millions of dollars to systematically disrupt and delay the Australian coal industry had far reaching implications for Australia.

“This document reveals a detailed plan to manipulate legitimate community concern about a range of local mining impacts to progress a larger political agenda aimed at stopping the growth of the coal industry,” she said.

If this strategy were to succeed, it would inflict significant collateral damage on the national economy, on the economies of Queensland and NSW, and on the many industries and businesses that support the coal industry.

“This is a threat that reaches beyond the coal industry. We should be having a national discussion about productivity and building the resilience of our economy, but what we have here is an orchestrated campaign designed to inflict economic damage on Australia’s second largest export industry.

“We are disturbed by the apparent role of overseas groups in this plan as it represents a strategy to materially impact the Australian economy.”

Williams said that while the coal industry embraced the critical need to work with local communities to address local impacts and concerns, it was important that the manipulation and political agenda evident in the document was laid bare.

“The coal industry is growing. Some of the issues we are working through with our communities are as a result of that growth. This is a legitimate challenge that we are intent on overcoming through consultation and constructive engagement with our local communities.

“This campaign however, is designed to hijack local concerns to provide a vehicle for an anti-coal, anti-growth, anti-business agenda. It is a systematic, targeted campaign that goes against the national interest.”