Coexistence is the name of the game now

The Queensland Farmers Federation has welcomed the changes while Lock the Gate Alliance has suggested a new body may be better placed to cover renewables considering, it feels, the commission isn't doing such a great job of its current remit of gas.

Planned legislation to address how communities and the resources and energy industries sustainably work and thrive together was introduced into the Queensland Parliament last Thursday.

The proposed amendments to the GasFields Commission Act 2013 as part of the Mineral and Energy Resources and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024 is designed to reflect the evolving needs of Queensland's energy transition and emerging challenges for communities.

The amendments would see the GasFields Commission maintain its independence with a name change to 'Coexistence Queensland'.

GasFields Commission CEO Warwick Squire said it was fitting to expand the organisation's remit to address coexistence matters across the State's broader resources and renewable energy sectors given industry's growth.

"The energy landscape is rapidly transforming, which brings about the emergence of new coexistence challenges and opportunities," he said.

"The commission's experience as an independent organisation makes us well placed to assist industry and communities to navigate challenges and harness opportunities.

"For over a decade, the GasFields Commission has been widely respected for helping bridge coexistence challenges between the Queensland onshore gas sector, and landholders and communities."

QFF CEO Jo Sheppard said QFF was supportive of changes to the commission's remit.

"We think it makes sense for co-existence work and support to be housed under the one umbrella whether it's gas, mining or renewables because it gives the opportunity for shared learnings and co-ordinated housing of skills in the coexistence space," she said.

"And, hopefully it avoids us operating around coexistence matters in the renewables space in a silo compared to what we're doing and what we've learnt from the gas boom for instance."

Ms Sheppard said they also had a strong view, now that the decision has been made to extend the remit of the commission, that there was a need to gear up because development in the renewable space was taking place across Queensland.

"So we need to accelerate and bring forward resources and capacity urgently so the impact and support is actually felt on the ground as soon as possible," she said.

Lock the Gate Alliance national co-ordinator Ellen Roberts, however, said her organisation questions if coexistence was even possible with landholders and the gas industry in Queensland.

"An example of this is subsidence which is caused by coal seam gas operations - so part of these changes included a compensation framework for landholders who've experienced subsidence caused by coal seam gas, but what we're not seeing...is preventing those impacts from happening in the first place," she said.

"So the whole coexistence framework doesn't look at acceptable or unacceptable impacts and try prevent those from happening.

"So farmers who're already experiencing subsidence, they're experiencing impacts to agricultural productivity of their farms and what we're seeing is running around afterwards, giving people compensation which, of course, they should get and what they're entitled to, but what we're not seeing is what are the unacceptable impacts and how are we are able to prevent those."

Ms Roberts said the premise of coexistence just assumes that resources company were able to go ahead and proceed with their projects and there was not a proper assessment, understanding or prevention of the really serious impacts from happening.

"I don't think the Gasfields Commission is managing the impacts of coal seam gas, no, because it's premised on the idea that gas is proceeding and coexistence is the very basis of it when in fact we should be stepping back and saying what are the impacts of coal seam gas and are they acceptable," she said.

Ms Roberts said as the commission had not got it right on coal seam gas there may be a need for another body looking at renewables because a lot of people dealing with coal seam gas do not feel the commission had been in their corner.

"Because it's based on this idea that projects will proceed without questioning those impacts," she said.

Ms Roberts said Lock the Gate supported the transition to renewable energy, but it needed to be done in such a way that it took into account the concerns of communities and landholders and made sure the environment was protected along the way.

Ms Sheppard said, unlike gas projects, landholders did have a choice as to whether they had a renewables project on their land.

But she said it was absolutely critical that when expanding the commission's remit it was adequately and appropriately resourced so "they weren't robbing Peter to pay Paul" to do the extra work.

In 2023, the GasFields Commission delivered a review of coal-seam gas-induced subsidence.

The review's recommendations informed the proposed Act amendments and led to important regulatory change to boost landholder protections and provide clarity on obligations.

Mr Squire said this demonstrated the GasFields Commission's capacity and capability in facilitating sustainable coexistence between the gas sector and communities.

"It's about listening to locals, engaging with a broad cross section of stakeholders, and understanding what the current and emerging priorities are for industries and communities," he said.

"We pride ourselves in leading - the commission brings everyone together in the same room to collaboratively test and resolve issues affecting shared interests in economic, environmental and socially responsible outcomes."