Evidence presented at the Independent Planning Commission hearing into the proposed extension of Hunter Valley Operations (HVO) has revealed that a requirement for the mine to have a mine exit strategy to manage the social and economic impacts of closure was removed. When an 18-month extension of HVO was approved in April 2025, the mine exit strategy condition was quietly deleted. It appears that HVO and the NSW Planning Department worked together to remove this key condition just when it was needed most, less than two years before mining was due to cease.
With the Federal transition authority (NZEA) excluding export coal mines from support and the NSW transition bill (FJIA) still stalled in parliament, coal companies are still not legally required to plan for, or financially contribute to, managing the social and economic impacts of mine closures. Hunter Jobs Alliance has been warning for years that whilst governments are talking about transition, they have failed to put institutions and policies in place to protect coal workers and coal communities.