A motion calling for the route of the Hunter Gas Pipeline to be shifted off prime agricultural farming land has been supported at the 2023 NSW National Party Conference.
The high-profile motion, put forward by the Central Council Primary Industries Committee, was debated at the party's annual conference in Tamworth on the weekend.
The motion calls for the pipeline to be built on Crown land wherever possible to reduce the impact on farming operations in the Liverpool Plains, and is supported by Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson who says "some of Australia's best farming country" can be found on the Liverpool Plains.
"We (are facing) the competing interests of the Hunter Gas Pipeline and established farming operations continuing in the area, and we need to be smart about how we protect our farming land," he said.
Chair of the Tamworth branch of The Nationals Ian Coxhead said about 80 per cent of motions put forward during the conference were carried.
Among the issues raised by the Tamworth branch, and carried, were motions to bring gun ownership in NSW in line with other Australian states, with a call to legalise the use of gun suppressors [silencers] and a call to overturn a ban on the ownership of rifles which resemble military firearms.
The Tamworth branch also referred a motion to restrict the number of immigrants allowed into Australia for labour purposes to the Central Council Policy Committee for further discussion.*
The conference also supported a motion from Tamworth for King Charles III to feature on the $5 note.
Mr Coxhead said it had been "a good conference, with a great crowd", with representatives from all branches across the state attending.
This was the third time The Nationals State Conference has been held in Tamworth, most recently in 2010.
Editor's note*: This previously read that the motion had been successfully passed.
