My conspiracy theory is that the coal industry is secretly...

My conspiracy theory is that the coal industry is secretly funding the fracktivists.
Rather ironic.
The group with the most to gain from keeping the domestic gas industry down is the coal generators and they have enlisted the greenies to help them keep coal as king for the next decade. A masterful plan. The greenies are too dumb to realise they are being used.

In the meantime - while the rest of the world cuts emissions by switching from coal to CCGT (including high emissions countries like the US, UAE, Saudi, Qatar) - Australia maintains its high per capita emissions unchanged.