1 Unconventional gas development in Australia: a critical review of its social license Hanabeth Luke, Martin Brueckner & Nia Emmanouil Corresponding author: Hanabeth.luke@scu.edu.au To be published in Extractive Industries and Society, November 2018 Abstract This paper provides an overview of unconventional gas developments in Australia and attendant public reactions to them through the lens of the ‘social license’ concept. An analysis of some of the relevant academic literature offers insights into how social license is understood, conceptualised and operationalised across Australian states and territories, surveying a variety of approaches to understand social and health impacts of developments; perceptions of developments, including their perceived legitimacy; and regulatory influences. Case examples from across Australia highlight the importance of procedural justice in industry-community conflict situations and the heterogeneity of social license outcomes. These insights suggest that social infrastructure can play an important role in social license negotiations. Further research priorities into the social dimensions of unconventional gas development are identified in the areas of cumulative health and social impacts; governance (and social license) implications in relation to resources; place and people; and better understanding social license in the context of other States and local contexts, specifically Australia’s First Nations. Both the ways in which a social license evolves over space and time, and how community concerns are responded to by industry and decision makers in different contexts, raises questions for further inquiry, specifically in relation to power asymmetries between industry, government and communities. Introduction Australia, boasting around 1.87% of proven gas reserves globally and 4% of global unconventional gas reserves (Geoscience Australia, 2015), is predicted to be the world’s leading gas exporter by 2020 (Towler et al., 2016). Conventional deposits of Australian gas have been commercialised since the 1960s (Wolfensohn and Marshall, 1964), while unconventional coal bed methane, known locally as coal seam gas (CSG), came online in 1996. While the majority of Australia's conventional gas resources (92%) are found in basins off the north-west coast, the majority of Australia’s onshore gas resources, totalling 300,000 Petajoules (PJ) (257 trillion cubic feet (tcf)), exist in the coal basins of Queensland and New South Wales (see Figure 1). Australia’s CSG resources are significant, with 90% of estimated resources found in the Surat and Bowen basins; however, reserves have also been identified in the Clarence-Moreton, Gloucester Gunnedah and Sydney basins (Leather et al., 2013). Australia also has considerable recoverable shale gas reserves (approximately 800 tcf) with deposits in the Northern Territory, Western Australia and South Australia (Geoscience Australia, 2015). Additionally, tight gas reserves estimated at about 10 tcf, exist in Western Australia and South Australia (Geoscience-Australia 2015). The expansion of the unconventional gas industry peaked in 2014, however, a drop in global gas prices triggered a marked slowdown since 2015 (EnergyQuest, 2016). Prior to 2007, media reports about CSG development primarily focused on the economic benefits of the industry. However, when a small number of rural residents living close to gas fields in Queensland’s Western Downs raised concerns about CSG (Hays, 2010), media