The Queensland government has quietly approved more oil exploration by Origin Energy in the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin before it introduces environmental protections for the region.
During last year's state election Labor promised to protect the Channel Country, as the basin is known in Queensland, near the South Australian border.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin would have protections like those granted under the previous Wild Rivers laws, which prohibited developments that impact the health of declared rivers.
A government stakeholder group of conservationists, farmers, councils, and mining companies recently held talks on potential reforms.
The government has promised to unveil proposals to protect the Channel Country next year.
"Clarifying and simplifying what approvals are required, what activities can occur and what restrictions on those activities will be required within the Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre Basin from a planning perspective," a draft consultation report last month said.
However, while talks have been under way the Palaszczuk government has quietly approved shale oil exploration permits in the region for an area the size of the ACT.
In late October, Origin Energy was granted 11 10-year permits to look for oil, which is the first step towards opening the Channel Country to fracking.
The company submitted section 31 native title agreements for the 11 permits.
The Department of Resources said Origin was approved to explore, but it could not produce oil or gas.
It said Origin would also have to apply for separate environmental and regional planning approvals before it could drill any exploration wells.
"Any resources project must stack up environmentally, socially and financially and are assessed against strict criteria," a department spokesperson told AAP.
Western Rivers Alliance spokesman Riley Rocco said any exploration drilling, let alone fracking, will put the regions unique desert rivers and wetlands at risk.
"We've been waiting nearly seven years for the promised consultation, which began on Tuesday this week with the first meeting of the Stakeholder Advisory Group," Mr Rocco said.
"To discover that the Palaszczuk government has approved an application for Queensland's first shale oil production in the Channel Country prior to consultation undermines this process."
Wangkangurru Yarluyandi woman Karen Monaghan, from the Lake Eyre Basin Traditional Owners Alliance, said approving permits amid stakeholder talks was denying Indigenous people a role in protecting the region.
"I am incredibly disappointed to learn that these applications have been approved without consulting traditional owners or other stakeholders," she said.
Lock The Gate Alliance spokeswoman Ellie Smith said the permits proved the government's whole consultation process was a sham.
She also warned that allowing the permits to proceed any further would irreversibly damage the region's environment and lift Queensland's carbon emissions.
"The Palaszczuk government has very clearly broken its promise to protect the Channel Country flood plains of the Lake Eyre Basin, and to meaningfully engage with the community over how development should occur there," Ms Smith said.
