Matt Canavan has backed greater exploitation of resources such as an expansion in oil and gas drilling, including in the Great Australian Bight, and land-clearing to develop agriculture in northern Australia.

At the National Press Club on Wednesday, the resources and northern Australia minister gave an at-times fiery defence of coal, lashing opponents of burning fossil fuels for using the “highly objectionable” term of “just transition”, which he said was a euphemism for destruction of jobs.

Canavan said Australia needed to increase gas production to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and to decrease energy prices, as the stores of cheap gas in Bass Strait had declined.

Asked about promising petroleum resources, Canavan singled out the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory and the Great Australian Bight, which has been abandoned by Chevron because of low oil prices and BP because its environmental plans were rejected by the regulator.

Canavan said Beetaloo could have shale oils as good as those “generating a manufacturing renaissance in the United States”.

He criticised the Northern Territory government for a moratorium on exploration and production of unconventional gas, and cited a recent report he said had found it could be safe with appropriate regulation.

“I hope the Northern Territory government make a pro-science, pro-development decision really soon,” he said. “On the Great Australian Bight, it’s a longer term prospect but it’s got huge potential, too, and it is supported by the South Australian government.

“We still have Statoil, a Norwegian company, interested and we’re working very hard to see that developed, too.”

Canavan said the government’s marine reserves management plan – which Labor and the Greens failed to disallow on Tuesday – was very balanced and “generally continues to allow resources exploration and development to occur in areas that are prospective”.

He suggested offshore oil and gas developments were important because there would not be “coal seam gas wells popping up around major cities, nor should we try” and, similarly, coal seam gas should not be developed on prime agricultural land.

Asked about agricultural developments in northern Australia, Canavan replied that sometimes development required land-clearing to level it and increase irrigation.

He accused the Queensland government of “trying to pass probably the most draconian tree-clearing laws in the country that will strip property rights from farmers without compensation and foreclose many of the agricultural opportunities we have in Australia”.

The laws are designed to tackle soaring land-clearing rates, reduce land degradation, protect water quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and sustain biodiversity.

Asked about the need for a “just transition” from burning coal to meet the Paris agreement climate targets, Canavan replied: “I don’t like the term transition; let’s be frank, if you want to shut down the coal industry, say it – that’s what will happen.”

Canavan said the coal industry was “not inconsistent” with Paris targets, citing the fact that 14 countries had included high-efficiency low-emissions coal power plants in their plans to comply.

He said Australia needed “smart ways to respond to climate change” rather than framing the debate as a choice between renewables or coal and gas.

“I agree with Deng Xiaoping, it doesn’t matter if it is a black cat or a yellow cat so long as it catches mice.”

Canavan – who has said he represents the mining sector – argued he was elected on an “unashamedly pro-coal” platform and his support for the resources sector and the Adani mine reflected Queensland voters’ will.

Speaking about the risk automation posed to regional communities, Canavan noted that workers could control automated machines from thousands of kilometres away.

He suggested the government should “think about” limits on the practice in the same way that Queensland had passed laws to outlaw projects employing only fly-in fly-out workers.