NSW Planning Minister Tony Kelly said the public meetings for the NSW Government’s Coal and Gas Strategy will be held at Lithgow on February 25 and in Singleton on March 9.

A further meeting on a date to be determined will be held in the Illawarra.

“The NSW Government is embarking on a series of regional forums on coal and gas mining strategy and these public meetings will give the community the opportunity to express their views,” Mr Kelly said.

“If it is not possible to attend a meeting I would encourage interested parties to lodge a submission with the Department of Planning.”

Mr Kelly was speaking during a tour of the Hunter.

“These groups play an integral role in representing the views of their stakeholders, and I hope my discussions with them will be ongoing,” Mr Kelly said.

“The NSW Government’s scoping paper provided an overview on issues facing each of the main coal mining regions in NSW — Hunter, Gunnedah, and the Western and Southern coalfields.

“This paper, which seeks input from the public and key stakeholder groups to guide the preparation of a NSW Coal and Gas Strategy, is available on the Department of Planning website. The Government has also formed a Reference Group.

“While the NSW Government is strongly supportive of promoting renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power, the mining industry will still play an important role in the global demand for energy.

“Coal seam gas methane is expected to be an increasingly important energy source, with 30 per cent of the world’s energy to come from gas by 2030.

“This means we will need to undertake careful planning for the future of the coal mining and coal seam gas industries in NSW, due to this continuing international demand,” Mr Kelly said.

“We want to ensure growth of the industry is not at the expense of environmental qualities and the coal industry is able to co-exist with other industries such as agriculture.”

Mr Kelly said applications for new coal mining projects and expansions were already subjected to a thorough assessment process by the Department of Planning.

“However, given the scale of this industry, it is important that we seek public and stakeholder feedback on how to take a more strategic and holistic view of coal mining to help inform these assessments and other government action,” Mr Kelly said.