Queensland government faulted for slow response to gas seep and calling Knitting Nannas a ‘risk’

Conservation group Lock the Gate says Queensland authorities did not act with necessary urgency to a gas seep near Chinchilla in July 2020. Photograph: Brook Mitchell/Getty Images

The Queensland government’s response to a gas seep “capable of posing risk to life or property” near Chinchilla included a briefing memo about the incident that described a local Knitting Nannas Against Gas group as a “risk”.

On 24 July 2020, a landowner about 10km from Chinchilla discovered water and gas bubbling from several former coal exploration bores on the property. The seep occurred near a section of the Condamine River where methane had previously bubbled to the surface.