Key coal seam gas industry players have committed to a five-year funding extension for a southern Queensland aeromedical rescue service.

Mines Minister Dr Anthony Lynham today congratulated CSG proponents Santos, Shell’s QGC business, Origin and Arrow Energy for keeping the Surat Gas Aero-Medical Service airborne until at least 2025.

“The CSG-LNG industry continues to deliver thousands of jobs and millions of dollars in business to Queenslanders here in the south-west,” he said.

“The ongoing support for LifeFlight means an integrated aviation and medical team are permanently on-call to provide round-the-clock emergency care for industry and communities.

“As a trauma surgeon, I know how much difference a rapid response service makes in emergency situations in remote areas.

“The SGAS Aero-Medical Service is one of the most visible ways the CSG industry puts back into the regional Queensland communities that support it.”

LifeFlight holds the SGAS contract and, through it, stations medically-configured AgustaWestland 139 helicopters at Roma and Toowoomba.

The SGAS helicopters provide around-the-clock coverage for about 270,000sq km of southern Queensland, across eight council boundaries.

Since the partnership began in 2011, LifeFlight’s SGAS helicopters have completed almost 700 missions.

SGAS steering committee interim chair Michael Todd said the four funding companies were proud of the lives the service had saved amongst farming families, rural communities, travellers and tourists, and gas sector workers.

“We are delighted to be able to continue funding this service for the next five years, for everyone’s benefit,” he said.

In 2019, the LifeFlight Surat Gas Aeromedical Service came to the aid of 76 people in Queensland’s south-west, including patients of Retrieval Services Queensland and the gas company workers.