Environmental Protection (Water and Wetland Biodiversity) Policy 2019
LegislationReferenced in 2 bills
Regional Planning Interests (Condamine Alluvium) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2026
This bill strengthens protections for the Condamine Alluvium, a major underground water aquifer in southern Queensland that farmers rely on, from the impacts of new coal seam gas (CSG) drilling. It bans new CSG wells from contaminating the aquifer's water quality, expands landholders' rights to compensation when CSG drilling causes the ground to sink, and requires gas companies to get a landholder's agreement before drilling directional wells beneath their land. It also removes a duplicate approval step by moving CSG assessment into the existing environmental authority process.
Environmental Protection and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2020
This bill creates a new Rehabilitation Commissioner to independently oversee mine site rehabilitation in Queensland, strengthens the residual risk framework for managing former resource sites after mining companies hand back their environmental authorities, and establishes a dedicated fund to manage the payments mining companies make towards the long-term costs of looking after those sites.