Coal miners have gathered in protest against new Queensland Government water laws.

The Palaszczuk Government is moving ahead with laws to make it tougher for mines to extract groundwater.

The former Newman government passed laws to allow mining companies to extract groundwater without a water licence.

With those laws about to come into effect, the new government is working to undo them.

The Labor Government is not seeking to repeal the LNP’s law, but will amend it to include groundwater use assessments in mining projects’ Environmental Impact Statements.

The proposed Environmental Protection (Underground Water Management) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill also gives the Department of Environment and Heritage Protection new powers to scrutinise mining companies.

This has angered mining companies, who say major resource projects already in the pipeline will be put at risk.

Hundreds of mine workers arrived in Brisbane last week to lobby against the amendments.

But Queensland Environment Minister Stephen Miles said the state had to know what mining operations would do to groundwater.

“The previous government introduced water laws that abolished the need for a mining company to obtain a water licence,” he said.

“That effectively created the situation where miners would have an unlimited, guaranteed right to take water without any assessment of what that impact might be on the groundwater or on other groundwater users.

“We've been able to streamline the process, particularly for new projects such that water impacts can be assessed in the environmental approval stage rather than requiring a water licence at the end.

“I think everyone other than the LNP thinks that where you have a mine taking significant groundwater, the impact of that on nearby groundwater users should be considered.”

The legislation includes a transitionary process for mines that obtained environmental approval without a groundwater assessment, but have not begun construction.

If it passes, the amendments could provide new avenues for legal action against Adani's planned Carmichael coal mine and third stage expansion of the New Acland coal mine.

Both of these projects have been subject to multiple assessments and challenges.

The Queensland Resources Council says the last-minute, left-field move could hold up important projects.