“The Government's climate policy…has axed the obligation on polluters to pay for their pollution," she said.

“The government has just given half a billion dollars of taxpayers' money to big polluters to achieve pollution reduction of just 1% of the expected emissions of Adani's Carmichael coal mine.

“This massive mine is set to become the Southern Hemisphere's largest, producing 4.7 billion tonnes of pollution over its lifetime, while today's ERF auction purchased just 45 million tonnes.

“To reduce our emissions in line with what the science is calling for, big polluters, not tax payers, should pay.”

Many of the projects paid for today were already underway under the carbon price with polluters funding them - now taxpayers are footing the bill for these mostly landfill and land-based abatement projects, Waters said.

“The taxpayer handout is also undermined by the weak 'safeguard' mechanism which sees companies allowed to pollute more overall, even as they accept hundreds of millions from government,” she said.