Shell Australia chairman Andrew Smith is set to call on politicians and industry leaders to tackle "head on" what he says is an orchestrated campaign that is unfairly demonising the natural gas industry to the detriment of regional economies.
The global energy giant's most senior local representative will use his address at the APPEA petroleum industry conference in Brisbane on Monday to urge "frank dialogue" to counter the "sometimes fanciful" criticism of the industry by its opponents, and the "misleading and often dishonest political campaign" against gas. 
 "There is no doubt our industry is the subject of an orchestrated, organised and well-funded campaign to hem in its further development," Mr Smith will say, pointing to the stalling of the onshore gas industry in NSW and Victoria, and the vocal campaigning against offshore exploration in the Great Australian Bight.
"Complacency, and also manipulation, sits at the centre of this increasingly concerning situation," he says, citing complacency from industry and communities, and manipulation from activists "that have unfairly demonised both investors and workers that have contributed to the economic success of our nation".
Mr Smith's words come as Federal Resources Minister Josh Frydenberg will announce $4 million of funding to be made available to CSIRO to extend research and community engagement on gas beyond Queensland and NSW to other states. The funding will be made through the Gas Industry Social and Environmental Research Alliance (GISERA).
Mr Frydenberg says the program would tackle community concerns about onshore gas through new research into groundwater and biodiversity, and communications programs that would improve understanding about gas.
"We know that there is no substitute for community engagement and robust science if we are to bring more gas to the market," he says.
In another move to head of public criticism of the industry Mr Frydenberg said the Coalition, if re-elected to government would exclude the environmentally sensitive Rowley Shoals region off Western Australia's Kimberley coast from this year's exploration acreage release, which is being delayed as the government is already in caretaker mode.
The decision follows on from a similar move made under the former Labor government by then resources minister Martin Ferguson to protect the region famed for its pristine coral atolls.
Queensland Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham will use his speech at the conference to defend the minority Labor government's new regulations on the mining sector, including the controversial chain of responsibility laws.
The laws, which were aimed at Clive Palmer and his Queensland Nickel refinery, give the Environment Department wider scope to pursue companies and financiers for the clean-up for failed resource projects.
The Palaszczuk government has also restored community objection rights after widespread concerns about gas development. In   April it also placed a ban on underground coal gasification after issues were raised by pilot programs, including Linc Energy's site at Chinchilla.
While he applauded the relatively short time it took to create the $80 billion LNG export industry in Queensland, Dr Lynham said companies had to continue to bring communities with them.
He said that the challenge for NSW and Victoria, where onshore gas has been curbed, "is to ensure that you operate in a way that always leaves you beyond criticism."
"It is my view that you will not achieve the mutual respect you need to create the basis for coexistence in the long term by removing rights."
Meanwhile Mr Smith also takes aim at the "absurd" situation where brown coal continues to be used for highly polluting power generation in Victoria, while gas, which could combine with renewable energy to replace that capacity, is kept in the ground.
He says "a well regulated onshore gas industry is the only reliable way to displace the dirtiest power generation in the nation, as a partner with renewables."
"But neither Labor nor the Coalition has yet shown the political will to make this happen," he says, while pointing to the need to "rethink" the use of coal outside metallurgical use such as steelmaking and the most efficient black coal generation.
Mr Smith says that excellent examples of industry leadership arguing in favour of well regulated investment have been "too few and far between" and calls on the industry to "stand up and show real leadership, and perhaps more importantly honesty" in the debate around the future of oil and gas in a carbon constrained world.
He will also call for "meaningful industrial relations reform" to allow new projects to proceed in remote regions of northern Australia, underscoring the need for labour agreements that last through the entire construction of a project to provide certainty on labour costs and productivity.
His comments reflect huge concern across the LNG sector about the expiry of labour enterprise agreements part way through the construction of mega-projects, such as Chevron's Gorgon venture, leaving proponents at the mercy of union demands. 
"International capital will recoil and seek more attractive destinations unless [projects] are competitive and we have certainty in costs," Mr Smith says, calling on business and political leaders to work together to ensure industrial settings allow workers "to be as productive as they can be."
Mr Frydenberg will also announce almost $700,000 in funding for a project to investigate the storage of carbon waste in the Petrel sub-basin off northerm Australia, which he said could act as a deposit for CO2 from the Darwin LNG project and gas fields in the region.