Over 20,000 submissions received for Lake Eyre Basin consultation

He was responding to news that just over 20,000 submissions, plus 373 survey responses, were received when consultation on the Lake Eyre Basin regulatory impact statement closed last Friday.

A Department of Environment and Science spokesperson said each submission and survey would now be analysed, and would form a key component into the Queensland government's commitment to achieving a balance between ecological sustainability and future economic prosperity for the Queensland Lake Eyre Basin region.

"It is anticipated that further dialogue with the region's First Nations people, and engagement with stakeholders will be conducted," the spokesperson said.

The Quilpie shire had called out its lack of inclusion in the Lake Eyre Basin community consultation meetings held in July, saying residents had lived experience of the impacts of gas industry activity, but Cr Mackenzie said his councillors plus Bulloo Shire mayor Tractor Ferguson, and opal miners, had subsequently been able to meet with the department's Director-General and deputy Director-General.

"It was a good session, we felt they listened to our concerns," Cr Mackenzie said. "I'm just so angry about activists not living here deciding what happens out here."

Both he and fellow councillor Lyn Barnes had received reports of members of the general public as far apart as Brisbane and Birdsville being approached to sign documents by people with 'Save Lake Eyre Basin' signage.

Cr Mackenzie said people were promoting the locking up of the Lake Eyre Basin at the Brisbane Markets, while Cr Barnes said she'd been told similar approaches were made to Big Red Bash attendees filling their cars at the Birdsville Roadhouse.

"The hypocrisy of people filling their cars with fuel while signing petitions to stop oil and gas in the Cooper is what gets me," she said.

A coalition of six groups released a statement last week announcing that thousands of Queenslanders had voiced their support for full protections of Lake Eyre Basin rivers and floodplains from new oil and gas.

They included Lock the Gate Alliance, Western Rivers Alliance, Wilderness Society Queensland, Queensland Conservation Council, Birdlife Australia, and Protect the Bush Alliance.

They said they'd received more than 22,000 individual submissions, which didn't included submissions made through the government portal and other individual submissions from graziers, scientists, and stakeholders organisations, which they'd passed on to the government.

Lock the Gate Alliance Queensland coordinator Ellie Smith said that based on the mountain of submissions, it was clear that Queenslanders wanted to see the "breathtakingly beautiful and culturally rich floodplains" of the Lake Eyre Basin protected from new oil and gas.

She said none of the thousands of tourists flocking to the region when it was in flood would want to visit a "wasteland pockmarked with thousands of frack wells".

Western Rivers Alliance spokesperson Riley Rocco said it was heartening to see so many people supporting Channel Country graziers, Traditional Owners, and local community members who have been calling for stronger protections from oil and gas for many years.

All group representatives said the flood of support followed eight years of pressure from First Nations, local landholders, and conservation groups calling on the state government to make good on multiple election promises to protect the rivers and floodplains.

"During this period of delay oil and gas companies have been allowed to apply for exploration and petroleum licences across the floodplains," Ms Smith said. "We now ask the Palaszczuk government to listen and implement stronger protection for the Lake Eyre Basin's rivers and Channel Country floodplains without delay. "

No timetable for any further action has been announced.