Queensland crop farmers need "enhanced" legal protections for their lands and livelihoods against sinking caused by coal seam gas production, a regulator says.
The state's Gasfields Commission has recommended a legal overhaul in a report released on Monday after a probe into the impacts of subsidence on the Condamine plain, west of Toowoomba.
The watchdog says existing protections, and dispute and compensation processes, need to be clarified and strengthened for landholders and gas companies.
"Whilst the research into the consequences of CSG-induced subsidence is ongoing, the Commission believes there is enough evidence to warrant clarification and enhancement of existing protections for landholders should they be exposed to material impact," the report said.
The Gasfields Commission report has called for the Office of Groundwater Impact Assessment to effectively become the new gas subsidence watchdog.
It should draw up regional, risk and farm scale impact assessments, the report said, and make determinations about subsidence management.
Gas firms should cover the costs of agronomy and irrigation specialist advice needed by landholders for negotiations, the report said, and a new dispute resolution process should be drawn up.
The Gasfields Commission said the new system should be retrospective and apply to a landholder regardless of whether they host gas production infrastructure on their property.
The government should also probe the potential impacts of gas subsidence on overland water flows, the report said.
The Gasfields Commission's recommendations come after its report in May found "no clear jurisdictional responsibility" for managing gas subsidence, and that the state's complex existing laws were untested.
Gasfields Commission chief executive Warren Squire said those issues will be dealt with if the recommendations are enacted.
"CSG-induced subsidence is a significant concern for landholders in areas of land used for irrigated and dryland cropping, particularly on southern Queensland's Condamine Floodplain," Mr Squire said in a statement.
"We know that CSG-induced subsidence has and will continue to occur as CSG development extends across some of our best farming land."
