The Premier, Mike Baird, has promised to end the "uncertainty" surrounding planning decisions like the Drayton South coal mine extension, and has not ruled out making changes to the Planning Assessment Commission.
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Mr Baird and the planning minister Rob Stokes, is on a whirlwind tour of the Upper Hunter on Tuesday, part of fulfilling a pre-election commitment to walk the talk on mining affected communities.
Mr Baird was met at the site by hundreds of workers wearing high visibility gear and hats reading "I support Drayton South".
He said he wanted "listen to concerns first hand".
"It's no longer good enough for a premier or planning minister to sit behind their desk and just read briefings," he said.
Mr Baird has conceded that any decision on Drayton South is up to the Planning Assessment Commission, which has already knocked similar expansion proposals back twice. But asked on Tuesday if he was considering changes to the PAC he said the planning minister had an "opportunity" to look at whether the planning system could be "refined".
"Everything can always be better and I think it's fair to say from a planning context that there were things that weren't done last term that we'd like to consider going forward this term," he said.
He spoke to members of the Muswellbrook and Singleton chambers of commerce, as well as local business owners, who were eager to stress the possibility of "connectivity".
But Shane Davey, head of the Singleton Chamber of Commerce, said it was a "fact" that Drayton South was not "visible" from the nearby horse studs that opposed its expansion.
He said fears of loss of the breeding industry were overblown, pointing to recent success of horses bred in he Hunter Valley.
"If that's the impact, I'm going to buy some horses and breed them in a mining put," he said.
"We want people to be involved in the community, don't pretend to be involved if you're not genuinely engaged.
"It isn't us versus them, but to them it is us versus them."