A leaked expert report shows the Queensland Government was informed of the risks of further gas fracking in the state's Channel Country.

A 47-page report leaked to the ABC described infrastructure for gas fracking and mining as “unacceptable” in the Lake Eyre Basin floodplains, known as the Channel Country.

The report lays out a long list of potential risks associated with unconventional gas extraction, including direct impacts on threatened species and water quality. However, by the time it was received, the Queensland Mines Department had already approved Santos to keep exploring commercial gas opportunities in the area until 2030.

The approval was granted despite the Palaszczuk Government’s election commitment to protect “pristine rivers” and work with stakeholders, including environmentalists.

The Western Rivers Alliance, comprising environmentalists, graziers, traditional owners and other stakeholders, says it was not consulted.

Western Rivers Alliance coordinator Riley Rocco says the Government should have made the report public.

“It says … very clearly that fracking should be prohibited on the floodplains of the Channel Country, and that they have ignored that advice and gone ahead and put forward proposals of regulation that would continue to allow fracking on the floodplains,” Ms Rocco told the ABC.

“Fracking activities on the rivers and the floodplains of the Channel Country in the Lake Eyre Basin is just an unacceptable risk altogether.”

Professor Richard Kingsford, a UNSW expert on wetland management, says it is a nationally and globally significant region.

“Certainly the scientific evidence is that if you do allow infrastructure development on these floodplains, it's inevitably going to change the course of water as it flows across these very flat areas,” he said.

“We're talking about one of the … natural icons of not only Australia, but the world, when those rivers run.

“So even things like roads and gas pads, those sorts of things, change the sort of pristine nature of that system.

“The concern is that that review does seem to have been fairly strong in its recommendations about protecting those floodplains … and we don't seem to have that sort of protection currently,” he said.