The peak body for the oil and gas industry was the only stakeholder the New South Wales government met with before a decision to reopen gas exploration approvals for the first time in more than a decade, documents released under freedom of information laws suggest.
In April, the NSW minister for natural resources, Courtney Houssos, announced the government would open applications for gas exploration in two areas in the far west, the Bancannia and Pondie Range troughs, for the first time since a 2014 freeze on new licences in the state.
