I was thrilled to read of the recent announcement by three NSW independent MPs, calling on the government to introduce an adjustment strategy for NSW coal mining communities, soon after the NSW Greens made a call for a transition fund financed through a levy on the coal industry. 

It came a week after Glencore, Australia’s biggest coal miner, announced it would cap coal mining due to investors’ concerns over climate change.

Both announcements followed the now worldwide famous Rocky Hill decision, where the Land and Environment Court rejected a proposed mine near Gloucester, partially on the grounds it would contribute to climate change.

Clearly, many attitudes towards coal are changing with the climate. Unfortunately, not everyone can see the writing on the wall.

I live in the village of Bulga and we know a lot about the Land and Environment Court.

We know about how bosses of the coal industry refuse to accept judgements the court makes about new coal mine proposals. 

My village won a historic case in the Land and Environment Court in 2013 to stop a coal mine expansion that would make life in our village unliveable.

But our victory was short lived - multinational mining giant Rio Tinto worked with the NSW government to bring the same mine expansion back for reassessment and changed the regulations and policies that were there to protect the peaceful way of life we lead here, and the bushland that we love.  It’s under construction now. We’ve lost the woodland and people have started leaving, because of the noise and the dust. 

People say it doesn’t matter what we do here in NSW, because it’s other countries that are causing climate change. But if we’re the ones selling coal to those countries, including China, and if we’re going to suffer the heat and drama of climate change, we can’t pretend we’re not all in it together.

The eastern states are suffering through one of the worst droughts in living memory, while North Queensland is picking up the pieces after “unprecedented” monsoonal floods.

At the same time, fires have ravaged communities from Tasmania to Central Queensland – rainforests that had never burned before were charred in the infernos.

Clearly, climate change is upon us, and if we continue to ignore it, we do so at our peril.

It’s logical for our assessment of new coal mines to pay attention to the consequences of burning coal, and every country, town and region plays its part. 

The Minerals Council CEO says it’s city greenies who are pushing to protect the Hunter from new mining proposals.

It’s true there have been times when it seemed that environmentalists were the only people from the city that wanted to hear what people in the Hunter Valley had to say about the damage that coal mining is doing to our villages, the health of kids and old people, and the land.

I’ve been talking to lots of people lately about the future.

One thing that most people in the Hunter Valley seem to agree on, whether they work in the mines, or on farms or in shops, is that this region needs to create jobs and opportunities that aren’t dependent on coal mining.

When other countries don’t need or want our coal any more, whether that’s in five years, 10, or 20 years, thousands of people in the Hunter will be left jobless if we haven’t planned how to replace coal.

We cannot continue as a community with all our economic eggs in a single basket.

There weren’t any jobs lost because Rocky Hill didn’t go ahead because it was just a proposed mine, but thousands of people work in current Hunter coal mines that might be at risk of closing sooner than anyone thinks, if other countries stop buying our coal because they take climate change more seriously than Australia.

Many nations, including China, are already making a much more concerted shift to renewables than we are. 

I’m retired and it’s not my job at stake, but I know lots of people who work in the mines. None of them will thank city folks in 10 years’ time for leaving them high and dry with no plan to invest in the Hunter region to replace coal jobs, or for pretending there was no need to act on climate change.

We must act now to prepare for the inevitable decline of coal mining in the Hunter. The policies announced by the NSW independents and the Greens last week are a good first step along that path.