Ms Simson said as part of her role with the taskforce her aim was to work for balance.

“It’s not a matter of farmers versus miners,” she said.

She said the problem that currently exists in New South Wales is that the process is not right, particularly because of the mining boom.

Ms Simson said there needs to be a push to chance the process, and the laws surrounding mining and exploration because of their outdated nature.

She said the laws were made well become the mining boom and it was time for the legislation to be overhauled.

“We need to blame the process not the miners… we need to fix the processes,” she said.

Ms Simson said the NSW Farmers Association had released its framework for sustainable development in October 2010 and it is calling for a change in the way mining applications are addressed.

She said currently resource development is proponent driven and this needs to change.

The NSW Farmers Association wants provisions to be included for cumulative impacts, a balanced and transparent approval process and for applications to be reviewed by an independent office of Agricultural Sustainability and Food Security, and independent monitoring of extractive industries.

Among the other speakers at the forum were John Rosenbaum who spoke about the impact of exploration licences on landholders and the impact of living with “the fear of the unknown”. He called for more landholder rights in the exploration process.

A reference group was formed at the end of the meeting which will meet to discuss the effects of mining in the Gloucester valley.