Mining giants make fresh bid to explore for gas with licence that covers land owned by Barnaby Joyce

Exclusive: Nationals MP said in 2013 he would sell the property, if he could get the right price, to avoid any viewed conflict of interest'

Oil giants Santos and Comet Ridge are again pushing to explore for gas under a licence that covers land owned by Barnaby Joyce, which he said he would sell almost seven years ago, acknowledging it could be perceived as a conflict of interest.

In 2013, Joyce was revealed to own land in Gwabegar, near the Pilliga state forest in north-west New South Wales, a region central to the state's coal seam gas development plans.