AUBJ – August 19 – The second day of the Queensland Gas Conference and Exhibition (QGCE) attracted a number of uninvited guests, Thursday, after a 50-strong group of protestors set up camp outside the event’s entrance and proceeded to chant, “No coal seam gas! No fracking way!”

In case their sizable presence hadn’t done the job, the group then marched through Brisbane’s South Bank precinct before circling back to the conference. News outlets have responded quickly to cover the movement, including the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) who amusingly and aptly likened the “people versus coal seam gas” (CSG) battle to that of silver screen combatants Alien Vs Predator.

Meanwhile at a Mineral Exploration and Investment conference staged by the government in Sydney, New South Wales (NSW), more CSG opponents assembled. Their slogan of choice? “Enough is Enough: Stop coal and gas expansion.”

Despite outside uproar both events continued indoors. In Sydney NSW Energy Minister Chris Hartcher addressed the concerns of those against CSG and accepted that some of them are valid, but brought lateral thinking back into play by highlighting that policy decisions ought to be based on reason and science.