The federal government would like the states to consider following South Australia's lead and pay farmers some of the royalties from gas drilling on their land.
Federal Resources Minister Matt Canavan says the plan to give farmers 10 per cent of the royalties government receives - based on US schemes - could generate community support for more gas developments.
"We need to try and find ways to unlock that support, to give people a better share of the development of this industry that happens on their land, in their communities," he told ABC TV on Sunday.
"That's a sustainable way to develop an industry because you get everybody to share in and support it."
There is widespread opposition to gas development now, especially for unconventional extraction with concerns that methods like fracking could harm water aquifers.
But Senator Canavan said when it reached the stage where conventional gas development was banned - as in Victoria - "we've got to have a look at ourselves and think that something is not right".
He didn't begrudge people wanting to share in profits from development on their property.
"If you had a big well popped up in your backyard and pipes going through your land and having to provide 24/7 access to strangers onto your property, what would you think about that?" he said.
"Is it fair or reasonable to think ... that land owner should actually make some of the money, the wealth that's created from this development?"
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said in Queensland farmers effectively got "a case of beer" in exchange for a gas well when some wells earned tens of thousands of dollars a day.
Paying a fair price would give rural communities a huge economic boost.
He would only ban gas developments on prime agricultural land or that would destroy aquifers - leaving some 97 per cent of Australia's land mass open to it.
Mr Joyce said prime agricultural land could be defined by its soil type, crop yield and how reliable it was.
"It is like a beautiful woman - how do you know what that is? Well, you will know it when she walks in the room."
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