NSW backs NT gas pipeline idea

A proposed 900 kilometre gas pipeline connecting the Northern Territory to Australia's eastern seaboard would help bring prices down for NSW consumers, Premier Mike Baird says.

He was responding to Fairfax Media reports that federal Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane was pushing to establish a national gas market by building a pipeline between Alice Springs and Moomba, in South Australia.

The pipeline would be the last missing link connecting gas from the Northern Territory to Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.

Mr Baird said the pipeline would help NSW avoid a possible future gas shortage.

"Certainly, I welcome the idea, the initiative, the approach of looking for opportunities to improve access to gas supply in this state," Mr Baird told reporters in Sydney.

"The more opportunities we have to deliver supply, that obviously puts downward pressure on prices."

The premier said the NSW government would be happy to play a role in the plan but stressed the private sector should fund the pipeline.

"I don't think any government should be putting money into that sort of project," he said.

"That's what the private sector is about."

He acknowledged there would still be a future for the controversial coal seam gas industry even if the pipeline were to go ahead.

The premier and Energy Minister Anthony Roberts will meet with Mr Macfarlane later this week to discuss the proposal.