1. Protect Queensland's farmland and water from new gas
   • Ensure that regional priority areas at risk from mining and unconventional gas are permanently protected, including priority agricultural land and strategic cropping land on the Darling Downs and in Central Queensland.
   • Provide landholders with an unequivocal legal right to say no to CSG operations on their property and to withdraw from current agreements without penalty in light of new evidence about the impacts of subsidence.
   • Protect the Channel Country from any future oil and gas developments or expansions.
   • Protect farmland and underground water by refusing risky new unconventional gas developments.
2. Protect Queensland’s farmland and water from new coal
   
   • Protect the nation's most precious water source, the Great Artesian Basin, by instituting a strict cap on any direct or indirect take of water for mining and gas and preventing contamination by CO2 or other sources.
   • Protect water, farmland and nature by refusing new greenfield coal mines and risky coal mine expansions.
3. Support communities to build a strong and resilient future
   
   • Support Queensland communities and local councils to develop diversification plans for Queensland that recognise job opportunities in mine rehabilitation, agriculture, manufacturing and renewable energy.
   • Rule out providing further subsidies for fossil fuel exploration or infrastructure development.
   • Retain community merits review rights, giving people affected by coal and gas projects the opportunity to be heard in court and have an objective ruling on the impact of projects.
4. Improve oversight of the mining industry
   
   Require coal and gas companies to decarbonise their existing operations by developing greenhouse gas abatement plans in line with relevant targets, budgets and climate science. These plans must be independently reviewed and require full utilisation of existing methane abatement technologies such as:
   
   • Abatement of all ventilated air methane at existing underground mines
   • Pre mine drainage for all existing open cut coal mines
   • A shift to renewable energy and a switch to electric vehicles
   • Strengthen Queensland’s cultural heritage legislation to ensure strong protections for cultural sites in Queensland and ensure proper enforcement.

• Queensland’s best farming land in the Darling Downs and Rolleston area - at risk of sinking farmland caused by gas extraction, and groundwater depletion
• Koala habitat and water resources in the Bowen Basin where coal companies are taking millions of tonnes of groundwater each year and proposing to clear 20 000 hectares of high value koala habitat.
• Queensland’s safe climate future - our State will be heavily impacted by severe weather events due to climate change
• Queensland’s unique and precious cultural heritage

Queensland is a rich and diverse State, from the braided channels of the Lake Eyre Basin in the South West, through the brigalow country and up to the rainforests of the Daintree and Cape York. It’s a place of unparalleled agricultural productivity - with the rich loamy soils of the Darling Downs, the coastal cane country and the vast cattle stations of the Centre and the West.

But Queensland is also one of the most intensive sites for the extraction of fossil fuels in the world - with over 60 operating coal mines producing over 250 million tonnes of coal per year. There are over 10 000 operating coal seam gas wells in Queensland, mostly in the Western and Darling Downs in Southern Queensland. *

And the coal and gas industries continue to grow. Arrow Energy is expanding the Surat Gas Project into some of Queensland’s best value agricultural land near Toowoomba, and Comet Ridge is pushing ahead with the dangerous and damaging Mahalo gas project in the Southern Bowen Basin. Blue Energy wants to open up the Bowen Basin for coal seam gas for the export market.

The Australian Pacific LNG project wants to open a new gas field with a staggering 7700 new wells, while gas companies are using Queensland public funds to explore for gas in the Bowen and Galilee basins. **

There’s 18 new coal mines or expansions amounting to 100 million tonnes of additional coal per annum - all due to come online in the next five years.

** Gas Fields Commission Queensland, ‘Shared Landscapes: Industry Trends’ accessed at https://gfcq.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/GasFields-Commission-Queensland-Shared-Landscapes-Industry-Trends-Report.pdf
** Business Queensland, ‘Frontier Gas Exploration Grants Program’ accessed at https://www.business.qld.gov.au/industries/mining-energy-water/resources/geoscience-information/exploration-incentives/frontier-gas

• Over 16 000 existing gas wells, with 10 000 in operation
• Two new export gas basins in Central and Western Queensland
• $22 million in subsidies for gas exploration in the last Queensland government budget
• 300 000 hectares of high quality agricultural land on the Darling Downs impacted by Arrow’s Surat gas project
• Coal mine gas leaks will be the biggest source of climate emissions in Qld by 2030
• 18 new and expanded coal mines planned for Queensland, which would produce 101 million tonnes of additional coal per year
• 20 000 hectares of koala habitat at risk
• 40 million dollars spent by coal companies on advertising to protect their coal profits

Over December 2023 and January 2024, 355 supporters of Lock the Gate provided their thoughts on the priorities for the Lock the Gate movement in the 2024 Queensland state election.

Some key facts:

• 54% of participants were from outside the Greater Brisbane area
• 43% had personally visited their Member of Parliament
• Over half of respondents are keen to get involved in campaigning for better policies on coal and gas in their local areas. The most popular election activity was meeting with local MPs, followed by participating in protests and events

The top three election priorities as identified by supporters were:

• Protect farmland and underground water by refusing new unconventional gas developments
• Provide landholders with an unequivocal legal right to say no to CSG operations on their property and to withdraw from current agreements without penalty in light of new evidence about the impacts of subsidence
• Protect water, farmland and nature by refusing new greenfield coal mines, such as Winchester South, and risky coal mine expansions

Ann Hobson - I’ve lived most of my life in the Dawson Valley. I’ve experienced the changing weather conditions. People around here are concerned about the impacts of mining on underground and surface water because the increasing heat means that we’re so much more dependent on irrigation for agriculture. I’m a member of the Upper Dawson Branch of Wildlife Queensland which has consistently expressed concerns about the impacts of coal seam gas extraction and proposed carbon capture and storage on underground water sources and the impact of the discharge of "associated gas water" into the Dawson River.

Paola Cassoni - I live near Alpha, in Central Western Qld. I am a grazier and the co-owner of the Bimblebox Nature Refuge. Clive Palmer’s Galilee Coal Project over us was one of nine mega mines proposed for the Galilee Basin, but I refused to stand by and see our Refuge transformed into a pile of rubble. The fight took many years and could not have been taken to the Land Court – let alone succeeded! – were it not for the wonderful EDO lawyers standing between us and Palmer’s deep pockets.

Regional communities are totally at the mercy of the whims of the extractive industries and their minions in government, ready to bend laws and close both eyes. Communities like mine need to be supported with economic alternatives to coal. It’s too easy for the government.

Cellia Karp - I was formerly a local councillor and a member of the then Liberal Party. I’m very disappointed in both of the major parties because they’re lacking vision for Regional Queensland for what comes after mining, especially coal seam gas and its impacts of loss of water and subsidence. Gas is short term, agriculture is long-term, an economic pillar for Queensland. Farmers on prime agricultural land have been abandoned who are fighting to protect those rich soils for the next generation/s. Their livelihoods are under threat; water and food security are under threat. Voters have no choice. All our politicians are functioning in a policy vacuum, whilst ignoring legislation that exists to protect valuable agricultural assets. They need to listen and govern with honour.