Development of coal seam gas (CSG) in Queensland has offered opportunities and challenges. The information on this website tells the story of that development based on historical and recent trends in key indicators. It is intended to aid decision-making in local and state government, the resource industry, small business, landholders, community organisations, and individual households. Input from these various sectors was used to prioritise the indicators to track. Population, income, employment, housing costs, and crime rates. Seasonal rainfall was also monitored as agricultural seasons can influence social and economic indicaotrs in towns. Petrol prices are included as a broad indicator of cost of living. A succinct overview of findings for the local government areas studied is provided on the page - Executive Summary.
Secondary indicators are used to delve further into issues as they emerge. Insights are drawn together with a specific focus for feature articles. For 2015, the feature article was on housing. These feature articles on the page describing the year's Opportunities and Challenges. For the 2016 Annual Report, the feature article focussed on the level of small business activity after the CSG construction boom.
The story of the 'gasfield' region is told through statistics, insights from key stakeholders in each town, and analysis of ‘system dynamics’ during periods of change in towns and regions. The social and economic outcomes are tracked at the town level. That is a level of granularity often missing in assessments of long-term outcomes from resource development. The methods used are described on the page - Methods. They are further elaborated in the accompanying website UQ Boomtown Toolkit.
Charts are provided here at the link in the menu at top right that says - Indicators. We also provide these charts in a downloadable PDF, a town data booklet. Each booklet provides explanations of the interplay of an array of factors in the town. UQ's town data booklets can be downloaded from this site from the page - Data Updates.
This effort was completed by a team based at the University of Queensland (UQ). It is funded by UQ’s Centre for Coal Seam Gas (CCSG).*
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* CCSG is supported by grants from the four coal seam gas industry proponents – QGC, Santos, Arrow Energy, and APLNG. UQ is also a financial partner in CCSG. Further information is available at https://ccsg.centre.uq.edu.au. The information presented on this website does not represent the opinions of the funders or UQ. Individuals interviewed for this research are protected by UQ research ethics protocols.
The University of Queensland, Australia
© 2015 The University of Queensland
Contact: Dr Katherine Witt
The University of Queensland Centre for Natural Gas
Sir James Foots Building (47A) St Lucia QLD 4072, Australia
Email: k.witt@uq.edu.au
Phone: +61 7 3346 4101
Office hours: 8:30am-4:30pm, Monday to Friday