Water Resources

This bill strengthens protections for the Great Barrier Reef by toughening regulations on agricultural and industrial activities that contribute to poor water quality. It expands mandatory farming standards across all Reef catchments and introduces a national approach to classifying threatened species in Queensland.

This bill allows greenhouse gas exploration wells in the Great Artesian Basin to be converted into water supply bores for local landholders, rather than being plugged and abandoned. It was introduced after the 2024 ban on greenhouse gas storage in the Great Artesian Basin ended the only exploration permit (EPQ10), held by CTSCo, leaving several wells that need to be decommissioned.

This bill makes wide-ranging amendments across the Natural Resources, Mines and Energy portfolio. It reforms mineral and petroleum exploration permits with a 15-year cap, strengthens water compliance penalties, introduces dispute resolution for state land sublease disputes, streamlines Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land administration, and supports the establishment of CleanCo as a government-owned clean energy generator.

This bill protects the Condamine Alluvium — a large underground water source vital to Darling Downs farming — from damage by coal seam gas (CSG) operations. It delivers on a Queensland Government election commitment to require gas companies to prove new projects will not harm the aquifer, while also expanding compensation rights for landholders affected by ground subsidence from CSG extraction.

This bill makes wide-ranging amendments to Queensland's mineral resources, petroleum, and water laws. It reforms how landholders and resource companies resolve compensation disputes, requires climate change and Indigenous cultural values to be formally considered in water planning, creates temporary access to strategic water reserves, and gives the government emergency powers to address urgent water quality threats.

This bill strengthens how non-urban water take is measured and reported in Queensland, delivering on commitments made after the 2018 Independent Audit of Queensland Non-Urban Water Measurement and Compliance and the Murray-Darling Basin Compliance Compact. It creates a new regulatory framework requiring water entitlement holders to use approved measurement devices, measurement plans, and in some cases telemetry to accurately track and report their water use.