Prime Minister Tony Abbott is confident of striking the right...

Prime Minister Tony Abbott is confident of striking the right balance between farmers, the environment and prosperity when it comes to maximising gas extraction in Australia.

Mr Abbott on Thursday praised the Newman government in Queensland for its handling of negotiations with farmers over gas operations, as protesters rallied at a New South Wales government energy summit in Sydney.

NSW is under pressure from the federal government to expand gas mining, including coal seam gas operations, as they search for a solution to energy price spikes and a crisis in natural gas supply.

Federal resources minister Ian Macfarlane, who attended the Sydney summit, announced on Thursday he would be forming a stakeholders group to find "a real solution to the NSW gas challenge."

The new minister said the NSW gas industry must be ramped up quickly or thousands of jobs across the state would be lost.

Anti-CSG protesters, conservationists and farmers warn that expanding gas operations threatens prime agricultural land, water resources and rural productivity.

Mr Abbott said it was important that governments respected the rights of farmers to have "reasonable control" over who accesses their land, and that the "magnificent" environment was safeguarded.

"But it is also very important that we get the gas we need to keep our economy strong," he told reporters in Melbourne on Thursday.

He said NSW premier Barry O'Farrell was doing an excellent job, but there was "little doubt" that efforts to expand gas projects had been better handled by his Liberal counterparts in Queensland.

"The Newman government seems to have been very good at ensuring that landholders are reasonably content with the arrangements that have been entered into for gas extraction on their property," he said.

Mr Macfarlane said 4000 farmers in Queensland had signed coexistence agreements with gas companies, worth millions of dollars in some cases, at "no risk, no capital, no labour" for landholders.

If farmers up north could convince those in the south that their properties would not be affected by gas projects then "everyone wins", he added.

Research from HSBC shows that if a number of proposed major gas projects are built, Australia could become the world's largest exporter of liquified natural gas by the end of the decade.


http://www.businessspectator.com.au/news/2013/9/26/resources-and-energy/abbott-pushes-nsw-csg-expansion