Organic cattle producer has firsthand knowledge of gas industry

Janet and Anthony Brook have been living at Cordillo Downs, about 240km south east of Birdsville, for 24 years and have been dealing with a number of oil and gas companies in that time.

Ms Brook said where they were situated was a marginal area for oil in which drilling had taken place at half a dozen sites, but they had plenty of experience to draw on.

"Where is the monitoring, the people asking, are the minimum standards that were set working," she asked.

"Regulatory bodies aren't well resourced, they can't police to the level they should.

"No-one is going out to check that what's happened on paper is actually happening.

"We're a long way from anywhere here so people are needed on the ground."

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In their experience, Ms Brook said companies didn't like it when they asked for alterations that differed slightly to the set minimum standards.

"We've asked for them to plan out their seismic work more carefully - it's 3D, which is more intensive and scarring," she explained.

"It might come across as more petty of us, to ask for them to tread more lightly on the landscape, and it took months but we ended up with a legal document."

For their organic certification needs, they had requirements to be met with regard to weed and feral pest control, which they passed on to the company concerned.

"For example, they can't leave their equipment out of a fenced area, for the risk of leaks," Ms Brook said.

"Camps have to be fenced too, so cattle can't have access. We'd like to have one of us with the group in pre-planning stages - they see minimum requirements as all they have to meet."

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Another point Ms Brook made was about the differences between gas activity in the Surat Basin and what they experienced at Cordillo Downs.

"This is very deep, getting into tight gas - there's no way they'd be putting in all the infrastructure you see around Chinchilla," she said.

"I wouldn't be keen about being around shallow CSG - that's a lot of wells - but as long as the regulatory bodies are doing what they should, we can coexist.

"It might just mean the company can't put a well exactly where they want."

She also said caution should be exercised about the cumulative effect of gas wells, in much the same way as those promoting cotton development on the Cooper advocated for just one irrigation licence.

"But the argument was, why say no to more than one," Ms Brook said.

"There's no accounting in the system for the cumulative effect of more than one well.

"One company comes in and abides by government regulations, but then another comes in, and another."

The Lake Eyre Basin stakeholder advisory group was set to meet in Longreach on Thursday to debate issues such as current regulatory and planning regimes, to inform the preparation of a Regulatory Impact Statement to go out to consultation.

Th definition of a floodplain and what activity could take place there was one of the issues slated for debate.

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Ms Brook said it had already been shown that because rivers in the Lake Eyre Basin were on an extremely low gradient, even a road could change the flow.

"That's why rules have to be enforced and people held to account," she said. "Royalties are needed but the pastoral industry is there for the long term, and the activity of the resources companies has to allow us to be there for the future."

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