Private dinners, lavish parties and shoulder rubbing. How coal giant Adani charmed Australia's political elite

Reports from trade missions show the lengths to which Indian mining billionaire Gautam Adani has gone to charm ministers and state Premiers.

Why is it that for so long and under such extreme pressure, Australian political leaders of both dominant stripes have stood by one of the most controversial coal projects in the country's history?

The project in question is the Carmichael coal mine - a $16 billion (or so) plan for Queensland's Galilee Basin being endlessly proposed by Indian company Adani.