LAST week I spoke at the Shenhua Watermark second and final Planning Assessment Commission public hearing in Gunnedah.
It was the last opportunity to raise community and agricultural industry concern about Shenhua's application for the Watermark project - a new open cut coal mine in the heart of the Liverpool Plains.
For years I have been involved in land-use policy and watched an endless line of NSW Farmers members and elected representatives work hard to improve this policy framework.
In NSW there have been a number of changes to the policy framework regulating mining and gas activities.
Some have been small but welcome changes to the process.
For example, the requirement for independent federal assessment of certain activities and some changes to the land access framework which are still ongoing.
On the flip side, there were unwelcome changes to the State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) which prioritised the economic significance of the mining resource over all other considerations.
In addition, the government failed to give an expert Gateway panel the ability to prohibit an inappropriate project.
Although it did map our State's most valuable biophysical agricultural land and water resources, we were let down when there was nothing provided to protect them.
In my address to the commission last week, I raised the issue of government policy failure.
Although the government has always said it would protect our land and water, communities such as the Liverpool Plains have had to fight for nearly 10 long years to protect it.
With a new strategic framework to improve the process for the allocation of coal exploration licences in NSW now on the table, we again have hope this will change in the future.
It makes no sense to map our best natural assets yet still grant exploration licences over them.
Comments made by the planning minister at the time made it clear the government had always intended to protect the Liverpool Plains from extractive industries, yet here we are with a review report indicating a green light.
NSW Farmers urges the NSW government to take heed of the genuine concerns of the community and the agricultural sector.
The Liverpool Plains are a unique foodbowl.
The government cannot approve a development that puts this at risk.
We are urging it not to make the mistake of failing to grasp that this could potentially end up being one of the government's largest policy failures - the failure to protect our land and water.