The yakka skink is a robust lizard around the same size as a blue tongue lizard. And the ornamental snake is a brown, grey-brown or black snake growing up to 50 cm in length with a prefeered habitat within, or close to, habitat that is favoured by its prey – frogs.

These were the little critters pivotal to overturning the approval of the Carmichael coal mine – a A$16 billion mine, rail and port project proposed for the Galilee Basin in Queensland, right on the doorstep of the Great Barrier Reef. But not without some serious campaign and legal work.

We talk to a key campaigner from the Mackay Conservation Group, the local ENGO that spearheaded the legal challenge.

In the same week as the court ruling, demonstrating further that this is a dead-end investment, Australia's biggest bank, the Commonwealth Bank, cut ties with this project, joining 11 international banks who refuse to fund the controversial project.

But, right now Australia's government is revising their approval plan. So the fight is not over.