Meet the people behind the latest gas lobby group claiming to “educate and inform” consumers

A fracking executive, a former New South Wales Liberal politician and a libertarian lobbyist are behind a new gas advocacy group claiming to represent “households, industries and producers across the nation.”

The group calling itself “Australians For Natural Gas” appeared in January this year ahead of the upcoming federal election with a website featuring glossy images of farmers, chefs cooking and bar staff serving drinks alongside information about the industry.

A vision statement published to the website outlines how the group plans to engage in pro-gas activism.

It says its goals are to “educate and inform” by raising “public awareness about natural gas’s critical role in powering homes, supporting jobs, driving economic growth and keeping the price of goods and services low”, to “give Australians a voice” and “drive unified action”.

The website describes the group as “a not-for-profit organisation representing the interests of Aussie households, industries, and producers.”

Company documents list the group’s directors as Joel Lynn Riddle, Nathaniel Gerard Smith and libertarian lobbyist Lyndal Anne Maloney. Riddle is also listed as company secretary.

Joel Riddle, managing director and CEO of Tamboran Resources, recently pitched the Trump administration on a $8 billion gas-powered outback datacentre.

The US-owned company is attempting to open the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory to fracking where it has been developing its Shenandoah South pilot project.

Tamboran donated $28,000 to NT Labor ahead of the Territory election in 2024 and recruited former Chief Minister Nicole Manison as vice-president of government relations and public affairs after she retired from politics that year.

The company also has strong ties to the Trump administration. Before his appointment, US Energy Secretary Chris Wright served as CEO of Liberty Energy, a company with a $15.2m equity stake in Tamboran.

Wright, who says the world needs more planet-heating fossil fuels, told the 2025 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in the US that he was “thrilled to work for Donald J Trump” and defended oil, gas and coal production by blaming attempts to address climate change for driving up energy prices and holding back the economy.

Renew Economy attempted to contact Tamboran Resources and Riddle through a company representative but did not receive a response by publication.

The Master Plumbers Association of Australia and New Zealand is listed as a partner organisation on the group’s website, along with the Australian Restaurant and Café Association (ARCA) and Restaurant and Catering Australia (RCA).

Master Plumbers CEO, Nathaniel Smith, was a former NSW Liberal politician and member of the party’s hard right who lost his seat to an independent Judy Hannan in a crushing electoral defeat. Hannan is not a Teal independent but has said she shares values with the group.

Renew Economy contacted Smith but did not receive a response by publication.

Lyndal Maloney is a lobbyist with “extensive experience in business, politics, media and building networks”, whose social media includes a stream of photos of her standing next to high-profile conservative and libertarian figures.

These include former US Vice President Mike Pence, former UK prime minister Liz Truss, UK politician Nigel Farage, Australian billionaire Gina Rinehart, former prime minister John Howard and federal opposition leader Peter Dutton. Renew Economy does not suggest an ongoing relationship between Maloney and any of these individuals.

Maloney helped start CPAC’s Australian franchise alongside Andrew Cooper, the president of hard-right libertarian thinktank LibertyWorks, where she previously worked as a media liaison. LibertyWorks has maintained an association with One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts and former independent senator David Leyonhjelm.

More recently, Maloney headed up government relations at Strategic Political Counsel Pty Ltd, a firm that specialises in dealing with the crossbench and minor-parties and which included the APA Group and British American Tobacco Australia as clients.

Maloney started her own boutique firm, GR Connect, in 2022 and according to the Queensland lobbyist registry, counts Bowen Coking Coal among its clients.

In a post to social media website LinkedIn published after Renew Economy sought to contact Maloney for comment, she described her role with Australians for Natural Gas as a “great opportunity to collaborate with others who share these views.”

“One of the aspects I’m most passionate about in this new chapter is contributing to raising awareness about the need for a reliable and affordable domestic supply of natural gas,” she said.

Posts to social media website LinkedIn and the group’s website repeat familiar gas industry talking points about red tape, uncertainty, choice and complaints that a lack of new gas supplies are pushing prices higher.

Recent work by IEEFA found Australia’s gas export industry has driven up prices on the east coast gas market even as demand has been falling.

Another claim suggests the gas industry “underpins” 258,000 full time jobs, but the government source provided on the website does not include this number in the document.

Australian Energy Producers, the country’s oldest and longest-running oil and gas industry association, says the sector underpins 80,000 jobs and employs around 22,000 people directly. Other statistics put that figure closer to 18,000.

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