The group listened to author Paul Cleary speak about his book Too Much Luck before being joined for a discussion with Tim Duddy.

Bylong Valley Protection Alliance secretary Craig Shaw said key themes in the panel discussion included more rigorous land use planning, putting aside government revenues earned during the mining boom for leaner times in the future and water-related amendments to the Environment Protection Biodiversity and Conservation (EPBC) Act, recently proposed by Tony Windsor.

Also on Sunday, about 20 people joined a rally in Rylstone to support the national Defend Our Water campaign.

The rally was organised by the Rylstone District Environment Group and included a Capertee Valley Alliance member, local farmers and concerned citizens who walked across the Cudgegong River Bridge into town with a banner calling for clean air, clean water and protection of land.

A spokesperson for the group said they are calling for a moratorium on the further expansion of coal and coal seam gas operations until the full social and environmental impacts are known.

A similar rally for the Defend Our Water campaign was held in Mudgee on Sunday.

Speaking to the Defend Our Water rally in Lawson Park, Cudgegong Valley Water Committee president Trevor Crosby said the Cudgegong River could not sustain the demands of the Cobbora mine, which were equivalent to the total extraction from the river for town water, stock and domestic licences, irrigation and the environment.

Mr Crosby said the move would jeopardise the conservative water sharing plan developed over the past 15 years, by transferring licences from the large Macquarie Catchment to the smaller, delicate Cudgegong system.

Sunday’s Defend Our Water rallies were part of a number held across Australia to protest against the effect of coal mining and coal seam gas mining on water resources.