Fracking fears grow for rivers in Queensland's channel country

Labor pledged to reinstate 'wild rivers' protections, but is yet to follow through, angering Indigenous and environmental groups

When the channel country floods, the rivers of western Queensland spread like thousands of fractures through the red dirt, each snaking their way through the central desert towards Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre.

The remote regenerative waterways that flow into the great inland lake are largely unaffected by the sort of actions that have made a mess of the Murray-Darling, where the river system has been placed under pressure over decades by a mix of large-scale irrigation, floodplain development, dams and diversions.