The Opposition Leader, Luke Foley, has told the Hunter it needs to secure a post-coal future as Labor campaigns to make election inroads into a region suffering high unemployment.
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"We can't put all our eggs in the basket of coal," Mr Foley told the Hunter Business Chamber. "Coal will continue to be a very important export earner. [But] we can support the coal industry and support the Hunter being a national hub for renewables."
The Hunter and Newcastle have an unemployment rate of about 9 per cent, according to figures released by the state government last week – the fourth and fifth worst in the state respectively.
Mr Foley has committed $10 million to the University of Newcastle's Institute for Energy and Resources, which is undertaking research into battery storage.
"[This research] has the potential to do to the energy grid what email has done to Australia Post," Mr Foley said.
Mr Foley said the Hunter should look to become a national centre for renewable energy research and look to tourism and the services sector to secure its post-coal future.
The issue of coal mining and coal seam gas extraction is likely to be a major factor in several regional electorates and is posing a major headache for the Nationals. Labor has announced a moratorium on coal seam gas exploration licences until the 16 recommendations of the Chief Scientist are addressed.
On Wednesday the Coalition made an announcement designed to neutralise the issue in three seats. Minister for Resources and Energy Anthony Roberts said the government had extinguished Pangaea's two petroleum exploration licences, numbered 437 and 476, covering about 15,600 square kilometres in northern NSW.
The electorates covered by the permits include Myall Lakes and the Upper Hunter for the 476 licence and the Northern Tablelands for the 437 licence. The electorates are held by Nationals MLAs Stephen Bromhead, George Souris and Adam Marshall respectively.
Of the two, PEL 476 was arguably the more controversial, covering much of the Manning River region surrounding AGL's Gloucester CSG pilot project, and extending as far as Taree and regions north of Maitland.
PEL 437 covered about 5600 square kilometres in a mostly pastoral region of the state's central north, stretching from the Gwydir Highway to the Queensland border.
A spokesman for Pangaea said the unlisted miner had explored for CSG but had handed back its permit last month after finding little of interest to exploit.
"Pangaea concluded its exploration and handed back its permits in February," the spokesman said, adding it was up to the government to reissue the vacant permits or cancel them.
Mr Roberts said the relinquishing of the permits offered the government "a one-off opportunity" to pay "limited compensation" for the licences.
The government is talking to other companies about buying back their exploration permits, Premier Mike Baird later told reporters.
"[W]e are not going to talk about the cost at this point because we are still negotiating with other players in terms of buybacks," Mr Baird said.
"We are open to bringing these licences back and we want [CSG] to go into areas that we are satisfied it can go and the community is satisfied. This is part of our pause and reset."
Gas exploration has been a controversial issue for the government. The prospect of large protests against Metgasco's operations in the Northern Rivers region near Bentley prompted Mr Roberts to suspend the company's licence last year. Labor is hopeful of picking up up to three seats in northern NSW thanks to the CSG issue.
