Just as George Orwell's 1984 had a Ministry of Truth that wasn't about truth and a Ministry of Love that wasn't about love, NSW has a Department of Planning that doesn't actually do any planning, at least, it seems, when it comes to coal.

Given the wide range of views about the future of coal in the world's energy mix and the importance of this to regions like Lithgow, the Illawarra and the Hunter, it is concerning that NSW has no plan for these communities if world coal demand declines, or even if particular coal regions become uncompetitive.

Weak coal prices could see more mines closed in the Hunter.

This isn't entirely Planning's fault. The department is just one part of a system that is focused on ensuring that major projects comply with regulation, rather than preparing the state, or parts of it, for potential change.

Take Lithgow: a coal mining area for a century but its mines are small, expensive and far from ports. Several have closed. The writing is on the wall but we don't have a plan for less-coal Lithgow. Instead, the department's role is confined mainly to assessing local mine expansions and approving them if they tick the boxes, no matter how dubious their claims seem.