**Acknowledgements**

**3.** Regulation for compatible, multiple use of land in Australia is undertaken with both risks and net benefits in mind. Considerable net benefits flow from community ownership of subsurface resources when development effectively manages risks to social, natural and

**4.** Operators and regulators should adhere to the golden rules for the golden age of gas, as

**5.** International standards [15] for unconventional gas resource and reserve definitions

**6.** Effective, trusted regulation and attractive investment settings are the most effective inputs from governments to beget safe, secure, and competitively priced gas for domestic

**7.** Regulators must have relevant and up-to-date capabilities (competence and capacity) to be trusted to act in the interests of the public in protecting natural, social and economic environments in relation to the full-cycle of mineral and energy resource projects,

**8.** New energy development technologies will necessitate evolutionary improvement to

**9.** A one-stop-shop (lead agency) approach to regulation enables co-regulators to do their jobs in parallel, rather than in series. This fosters efficiency without reducing stringent

**10.** Welcomed investment in the development of unconventional gas will effectively reduce risks to as low as reasonably practical while simultaneously meeting community expect‐ ations for net outcomes. This will be achieved with, amongst other actions, astute

**11.** The key ingredients of best practice regulation are frameworks that: elicit community trust and investor confidence; provide certainty; entail robust public consultation processes; are transparent; enable flexibility; are open to amendment; are efficient; are practical; and focus on outcomes. This amounts to an overall check-list for best practice co-regulation.

regulatory frameworks, and best practice regulation will continually evolve

standards for ecologic, social, heritage and economic outcomes.

published by the International Energy Agency [14]– which are:

economic environments.

254 Effective and Sustainable Hydraulic Fracturing

**•** Measure, disclose, engage;

**•** Isolate wells – protect against leaks;

**•** Eliminate venting and minimise flaring;

**•** Consistent high environmental performance

and international gas markets for decades to come.

including unconventional gas operations.

investment in economic unconventional plays,

**•** Watch where you drill;

**•** Treat water responsibly;

**•** Think big; and

should be adopted.

The authors thank the participants in the Roundtable for Unconventional Gas Projects in South Australia for their valuable advice in developing the Roadmap for Unconventional Gas Projects in South Australia. Participants in the Roundtable to its publication in December 2012 are listed in Appendix 1 of the Roadmap [16].
