Energy suppliers have been urged to stand up for their industry, as the opposition leader pledges to allow incentives for smaller oil and gas companies to carry out more exploration.
In a speech to the Australian Energy Producers Conference in Adelaide, Angus Taylor called for the industry to be more vocal about government policies in the sector.
"You need to start making noise. You need to use every campaign tool at your disposal – especially social media. Push back against your detractors," he said.
"We are going to have to fight like hell. That's where we are at now.
"This is bare-knuckle politics."
Mr Taylor, who wants all net-zero goals scrapped, used his budget reply speech earlier in May to call on the government to lift fuel baseline stockholding levels from 30 to 60 days.
