Barnaby Joyce has accused state governments and mining companies of being “far too greedy” on coal seam gas exploration and getting it wrong.

The agricultural minister also suggested there should be no coal seam gas mining on any prime agricultural land, water aquifers should be protected and fair prices should be paid to the community and landowners.

In a wide-ranging speech delivered at the National Press Club on Monday in which he argued the government’s case for the agriculture white paper, Joyce described the “avant garde” approach of some animal rights groups as “nihilism”. He also defended the Coalition’s changes to foreign investment rules which drop the review threshold to $15m, suggesting he had not seen any weakening of demand by foreign investors.

The $1.2bn agriculture white paper, which was released on Saturday, announced a range of new measures, including $500m for water infrastructure and dams, extensions for farm concessional loans, an agricultural commissioner in the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to oversee fair trading conditions for suppliers, primarily aimed at big supermarkets, and changes to the rules for farm management deposits (FMDs).

At the same time, Joyce was caught up in a storm over his planned appearance on Q&A on Monday night, after the prime minister’s office forbade him from appearing on the show following the controversy over Zaky Mallah.

Although it was raised in the preceding green paper, the white paper does not touch on coal seam gas exploration, which remains a political flashpoint in some areas between farmers, miners and state governments which have responsibility for land usage.

The NSW National party lost one and almost two seats on the far north coast of NSW over the issue at the state election and has urged a CSG ban in the area. Joyce is under pressure in his own seat of New England, with the federal environment minister Greg Hunt yet to decide whether the Chinese state-owned mega-coalmine Shenhua can go ahead.

Under the water trigger legislation – which the Coalition is seeking to remove – Hunt has to decide whether the water aquifer under prime agricultural land in the Liverpool Plains is at risk from the mine. The deadline for his decision is Thursday.

“The mines got it wrong and the state governments got it wrong,” said Joyce with regard to CSG. “They all got it wrong because they got too greedy, they got far too greedy. You must make sure a fair return goes back to the farmer.

“Because they didn’t walk up and do the business and were fair in the application of how they dealt with those farmers, the mining company lost the delivery of those sweet spots in the delivery of those minerals. They lost it.

“If they dealt in a fair way then they’d have their product online. There has to be a fair return to the lives of the people who it ultimately affects.”

The shadow agriculture spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon, said Labor (at the urging of Joyce’s predecessor Tony Windsor) put in place rigorous approval processes, which allowed the federal government to examine resource project effects on flora, fauna and water.

“We ensured that water problems were considered independent of states but the Coalition’s policy is to send that approval back to states,” Fitzgibbon said.

Joyce said while it would be mad to shut down the coal seam gas industry, guidelines were necessary, including a ban on CSG on prime agricultural land, a responsibility not to destroy water aquifers and a responsibility to deliver a fair return to the community.

“Don’t destroy aquifers, that’s stating the bleeding obvious,” he said. “Aquifers are a public asset. So many people in so many areas rely on them. They don’t just rely on them in that area, they rely on them downstream and around and everywhere.

“Don’t usurp the quiet enjoyment of people who were there first. You can’t set up an industrial park next to someone’s house. Or you shouldn’t be able to.

“There has to be a fair return to the community. If the community sees all this action going on around it, then it would expect its hospitals to be fixed and its schools to be refurbished and its roads to be sealed.”

Joyce also raised concerns with the methods of animal rights activists and the definition of free-range eggs. State and federal ministers are trying to determine a national standard for free-range eggs which fits with the consumer’s understanding of free range.

He said some “avant garde” animal activists’ definition of “ethical” was actually “nihilism” to some producers.

“To those who actually live in the industry, it’s nihilism,” he said. “It takes them out of production.

“We have discussions all the time about what is a free-range egg. You can’t force a chook out of a shed. If a chook wants to stay in an air-conditioned shed it stays in an air-conditioned shed. They’re not like kids, you can’t force them out to play. We have branding issues.”

Joyce also defended the government’s treatment of foreign investment, which was welcome “where it is not contrary to Australia’s national interest”. The Coalition has reduced the Foreign Investment Review Board screening threshold in agricultural land to $15m, and is introducing a new $55m threshold for agribusiness, though it excludes certain countries where limits in trade agreements apply.

“Bona fide investors are still lined up out the door,” he said.

“When I went to Beef Week, it was like a mosh pit and not one person was saying they were scared of the controls. They were absolutely wanting to invest but I have to be able to sell to the Australian people a sense that we have control of this.

“When I can’t say to the Australian people we don’t actually know who owns what, that’s not a good starting point for any debate. And we’ve got to show that first and foremost we are backing in the Australian people.”

Fitzgibbon said while the government was talking up free trade agreements and publicly encouraging foreign investment, it was changing the thresholds and increasing the fees for foreign investors.

“The competition for global capital is intense,” he said, “and anything that represents a barrier makes us less competitive.”