Independent Queensland MP Rob Pyne has revealed his next battleground will be coal seam gas (CSG) and flagged plans to introduce legislation granting landholders greater rights.
The Cairns MP, who quit the Labor party in March and has since faced hostility from former colleagues and union figures, said a bill would be drafted through the parliamentary council and he planned to introduce it at the next sitting in July.
Mr Pyne has also declared he will recontest his far north Queensland seat, despite previously ruling out another tilt, because he refuses to let "bullies" chase him out of politics.
"I'm going to take them on," he told AAP in Cairns on Tuesday.
"I'm going to take on their corporate sponsors like the coal seam gas companies."
The legislation would bolster landholders' rights to negotiate with CSG companies and add stronger protections, similar to those that exist in Western Australia.
Mr Pyne said he took up the cause after discussions with several lobby groups including Lock the Gate, CSG Free North Queensland and the Knitting Nannas, who have knitted him an anti-CSG scarf to wear when he raises the issue in the house.
Asked about the legislation's chances of being passed, Mr Pyne said most people would expect the Labor party to support it, but he believed the party held a belief it was a "custodian" of natural gas.
"All I can do is put legislation that is what is consistent with the will of the people and that's best for Australia," he said.
"If they vote it down they'll be damned by it, hopefully."
Most CSG production has occurred on Queensland's Darling Downs. However, Lock the Gate said landholders had an obligation to treat any interest in exploration as a real threat and welcomed Mr Pyne's plans.
In April last year, activists declared a victory after an application for gas exploration at Mt Mulligan, west of Mareeba, was withdrawn.
"Cairns people like to drink clean water and eat healthy food and that's a real concern ... the way this industry is spreading and really affecting prime agricultural land," Mr Pyne said.
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