Implementation stages
The Inquiry recommendations were delivered in 3 stages aligned with major milestones as the industry developed.
Stage 1 - Planning
Stage 1 outlined the tasks following the lifting of the moratorium.
It covered setting up the governance arrangements for implementation, establishing the Onshore Shale Gas Community and Business Reference Group and starting work on some of the major reform areas.
The Scientific Inquiry into Hydraulic Fracturing Implementation Plan was the major milestone achieved in Stage 1.
Stage 2 - Preparing for exploration
Stage 2 comprised implementing the recommendations that needed to be done early including those that the Inquiry determined must be completed before any exploration involving drilling or hydraulic fracturing and stimulation of unconventional wells.
The recommendations summarised in table 16.1 of the report are:
- Codes of Practice for industry
- transfer of environmental decisions regarding petroleum from the Minister for Primary Industry and Resources to the Minister for Environment and Natural Resources
- baseline mapping and ongoing monitoring regimes for weeds, methane emissions and water quality near proposed drilling sites
- commencement of a broader Strategic Regional Environmental and Baseline Assessment (SREBA).
The recommendations outlined in table 16.1 were required to be in place before exploration recommenced.
Stage 3 – Exploration and preparing for production
Stage 3 covered the balance of the recommendations and took a number of years to complete.
Stage 3 needed to be completed before any production approvals were granted for unconventional gas.
Key milestones in each implementation stage
