Lock the Gate Alliance warmly welcomes the QLD Miles Government’s announcement today that it will protect the Channel Country rivers and floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin from new oil and gas.
Lock the Gate Alliance National Coordinator Ellen Roberts said, “Steven Miles has shown the leadership to get this done in his first week as Premier - nearly nine years after the commitment was first made. Queenslanders, particularly those who live in the Channel Country of the Lake Eyre Basin, can now breathe a huge sigh of relief.
“Traditional Owners, graziers, and other members of the Far Western QLD community, along with Queenslanders all across the state, have been calling for these protections.
“The Channel Country Rivers and floodplains of the Lake Eyre Basin are some of the last free flowing desert rivers in the world, and they sustain a clean, grass fed beef industry and a growing nature-based tourism industry. They also hold tremendous cultural significance for Traditional Owners.
“This announcement by the government puts in place the first official no go zone for gas in Queensland outside of national parks. Lock the Gate Alliance hopes to see more of this - there is so much more of Queensland that deserves protecting, like the rich farmland of the Darling Downs.”
“Unconventional oil and gas extraction can require thousands of wells to be drilled across a landscape, with each well requiring millions of litres of water for a single frack. This sort of development would have decimated the fragile and unique rivers and floodplains of the Channel Country. It would have pushed out existing sustainable industries, and wreaked havoc on cultural sites. We thank the Miles Government for making good on Labor’s promise to protect these irreplaceable rivers and floodplains.
“However, the government’s decision to allow petroleum companies to apply for production licences for new conventional oil and gas projects until the end of August next year is troubling.
“Lock the Gate will be intensely scrutinising any new production applications for oil and gas projects on the floodplains that are lodged before August next year, and we await the details from the government on how these applications will proceed.”
ENDS