Pitt is enthusiastically talking up gas. It suggests he's laying...

Pitt is enthusiastically talking up gas. It suggests he's laying the groundwork for "yes".
If he was going to go against party policy and deliver a surprise, then he'd be starting to drop in a few references to soften up the Libs' pro-resources supporter base.
Or if there is further work, he would be preparing that supporter base with some red flags in his wording, such as the importance of "dotting the i's and crossing the t's", "governance" etc. That would be the way to generate cover.
Anyway, that's what I'd be doing if I was his speech writer.