Quilpie Shire Council questions lack of Lake Eyre Basin consultation meeting

Public sessions held as part of the Lake Eyre Basin Regulatory Impact Statement consultation plan took place at Winton, Boulia, Bedourie, Birdsville, Windorah, Barcaldine and Longreach from July 11 to 15.

Quilpie mayor Stuart Mackenzie said that not giving residents of either his shire or the Bulloo Shire further west the opportunity to give their point of view, or hear about the statement's aims, mirrored a similar lack of opportunity when the Bligh government was planning Wild Rivers legislation in 2011.

"We missed out again," he said. "We're in the south east part of the Lake Eyre Basin and we're also most affected by decisions relating to this.

"Oil and gas is all about us - wouldn't you think we'd be included, especially as the whole RIS is aimed at regulating the oil and gas industry."

Sixty per cent of the shire's rates come from resources operators, and Cr Mackenzie estimated 40 people in the shire were directly employed in the industry, plus another 40 or 50 indirectly.

"There would be another couple of hundred on the ground at any one time, flying in or out," he said.

The consultation document notes that the Cooper-Eromanga basin 'comprises the most developed conventional oil and gas province in Australia', and says conventional oil and gas operations have been operating in parts of the region for decades.

"Some 1700 wells have been drilled to date in the Queensland LEB," it says.

"While Queensland manages a comprehensive regulatory framework to guide assessment of such activities in the LEB, in recent years there has been increased industry interest and investment into the potential to develop unconventional (shale, tight and coal seam) gas and oil resources within the region.

"A consideration of the adequacy of the protections for the LEB must consider the effectiveness of the existing regulatory framework for both current and future activities."

A Department of Environment and Science spokesperson said mayors and CEOs of local governments in the Queensland LEB region, including Quilpie and Bulloo shires, had been invited to a formal briefing, adding that information packs on the contents of the consultation RIS were provided to each council.

"We have received a formal submission from Quilpie Shire Council, endorsed by its mayor. A visit to Quilpie is currently being looked into," the spokesperson said.

A further outreach leg, visiting the towns of Camooweal and Dajarra, will take place from August 9-10.

Cr Mackenzie speculated that the shire had been left out because its residents were armed with facts and experience of gas extraction.

"In other places people can say what they like and they're not challenged," he said.

"Fracking for gas has been happening in the Cooper Basin for 30 years and there's never been a failure.

"All the gas is under the Great Artesian Basin - there's no open holes and nothing can get in the water.

"Water is put under pressure with a wetting agent, and sand is used to keep the cracks open."

In Cr Mackenzie's view, the most worrying part of the consultation document was the recommendations for increased cultural heritage regulation.

"That's the same thing that just happened in Western Australia," he said. "That's what happens. These things get buried in a document and people don't even realise what's being proposed until it's done."

Environmental groups were enthusiastic about the release of the consultation plan for the Regulatory Impact Statement for Lake Eyre Basin at the start of June, describing it as a once in a generation opportunity for the government to prioritise protection for the floodplains.

Lock the Gate spokesperson Nick Holliday said anything less than a total ban on new oil and gas development on the floodplains would be an environmental and social catastrophe.

The community consultation process closes at 5pm on August 25.