Gas in the Ground: Toowoomba and the Coal Seam Gas Industry

The coal seam gas industry that developed across the Surat Basin west of Toowoomba from the mid-2000s transformed the economic landscape of the Darling Downs region, bringing significant capital investment, royalty revenues for the state government, and employment opportunities alongside the community concerns about agricultural land access, groundwater impacts, and the social disruption that large-scale resource development produces in established rural communities. The LNG export projects at Gladstone, supplied by gas pipelines from the Surat Basin, connected the Darling Downs to global energy markets in ways that the region's previous agricultural economy had not.

The Agricultural Land Council review processes, established to assess the impacts of resource development on agricultural land and to provide farmers with negotiating tools and compensation rights that the initial development rush had not provided, emerged from the community advocacy of Darling Downs farmers who found themselves with gas infrastructure on their properties without adequate consultation or compensation. The stronger land access framework that followed the initial development period reflected the political influence of a farming community that had the connections and the organisation to achieve legislative reform.

Toowoomba's economy benefited from the coal seam gas boom through the supply chain activity that the industry's operational phase generates. Pipe suppliers, engineering services, accommodation, and the retail and hospitality activity that FIFO workers support during their time in Toowoomba contributed to the city's economy during the peak development phase. The transition to the operational phase, with its lower labour requirements, reduced the direct employment impact while the ongoing production and royalty revenues maintained the broader economic relationship.

The energy transition's implications for the Surat Basin's coal seam gas industry, as renewable energy investment reduces long-term gas demand projections, creates the same kind of economic planning challenge for the Darling Downs that coal-dependent regions elsewhere face. The community's approach to this longer-term transition will shape the economic future of the region beyond the current energy market cycle.

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