Scientific advice recommending ban on fracking in Lake Eyre basin kept secret and ignored

Exclusive: Queensland government blocked report's public release after granting gas companies new exploration rights

An independent scientific panel commissioned by the Queensland government recommended a ban on fracking in the environmentally sensitive Kati Thanda-Lake Eyre basin, but the experts' findings were made secret by the state and ultimately ignored.

Guardian Australia has obtained a leaked copy of the panel's report, which was blocked from public release and ruled subject to cabinet confidentiality by the Palaszczuk government last year.