Australia will need more coal, gas and uranium exports to pay for essential services and lift living standards, incoming Resources Minister Keith Pitt has declared in a warning shot to activists trying to block new projects.

Mr Pitt vowed to use his new job to make Australia an even bigger energy exporter and sent a message to state governments to open up new coal seam gas fields to drive down the price of energy for households.

Keith Pitt, Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

"I think we should use every opportunity to utilise the common wealth for the common good," Mr Pitt said in an interview with The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age in his first days in the position.

Mr Pitt backed the vast Santos project to extract gas from the land around Narrabri in northern NSW, saying it could supply more than half the state's gas demand and in doing so could support manufacturing jobs and lower gas prices.