Land access (Landholder rights and CSG)

Is there a CSG tenure over my property?

With more than 7000 CSG wells in operation across Queensland and plans for up to an estimated 40,000 in the region, AgForce Projects encourages all landholders to take active steps to prepare for negotiations with resource companies.

The first step is to find out if a resource company has a tenure over your property.

Landholders can visit the Queensland Government's MinesOnlineMaps (replacing the interactive resource and tenure maps or IRTM) website for the most current information on tenures in Queensland.

Land access laws

Amendments to Queensland legislation regarding land access were introduced in October 2010.

The changes include the introduction of the Land Access Code, which sets out mandatory conduct provisions dealing with activity on private land and best practice guidelines for communication between landholders and resource companies.

Resource companies have an obligation to consult with the owners and occupiers of land about access arrangements, proposed activities and the compensation liability. Legislation states that resource companies conducting their authorised activities must not unreasonably interfere with a landholder's lawful activities

Landholders also have obligations and cannot obstruct a resource company from carrying out authorised activities without a reasonable excuse.

What are authorised activities?

Landholders should request the Environmental Authority (EA) from the resource company as this details what activities the resource company is authorised to conduct. If you have been contacted by a resource company to conduct any type of activity on your property you should have been provided with this document. It is important that you read this document.

Note: This document may be upwards of 60 pages, so ensure you receive the full version.

Conduct and Compensation Agreements

Resource companies must negotiate a Conduct and Compensation Agreement (CCA) with a landholder before conducting any advanced activities on a property.

A CCA enables landholders to negotiate how CSG activities will be conducted on their property as well as the compensation to be paid. Negotiating a CCA allows the landholder to identify the risks and impacts CSG activities will have on their business, property or lifestyle and ensures the landholder is compensated for those impacts. When a landholder is negotiating a CCA it is important to consider current physical, financial and social impacts of the activity as well as the impact on any future plans they may have had for the property.

This negotiation process provides an opportunity for landholders to present property maps and plans to justify why identified areas of the property should be excluded from CSG activities and infrastructure, based not only on current farming practices but also future plans for the property.   It is vitally important that you consider long term impacts to your property and include these considerations in your negotiations.  These should also be discussed with your solicitor.

For more information and tips on negotiating with resource companies click here.

Note: AgForce Projects landholder CSG information sessions outline tips on property planning, mapping, conduct provisions, recording on-property changes and keeping quality environmental baseline records – all vital for negotiating an effective CCA.

For dates and locations of upcoming AgForce Projects CSG information sessions please visit the calendar page of this site or contact (07) 3238 6048.

The CSG Project is delivered by AgForce Projects with the support of the Queensland Government, the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, Queensland Resources Council and the GasFields Commission Queensland.
2025 AgForce Projects | Industry Privacy Code | Terms & Conditions | Home Site developed by ComDispatch | Sitemap

Participant Login

Forgot Your Password?