Water, milk and nuclear power: Nationals conference motions

At the end of the month, hundreds of National Party members will flock to Inverell for the annual conference, where almost 60 motions will be vigorously debated and, if approved, will become part of the Nationals' ongoing policy platform.

One of the first controversial topics to be discussed will be nuclear power, with the Narrabri branch calling on the party to support its use in Australia.

Another hot topic will be climate change, which both the Boggabri and Glen Innes branches put on the agenda.

They propose that the NSW Nationals recognise "that climate change is impacted by human activity", and implement solutions that protect regional areas while allowing them to take advantage of the "associated economic opportunities".

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The Boggabri branch also wants the party to support cancelling petroleum exploration licences as soon as they expire.

There are more than a dozen expired coal seam gas exploration licences, covering 56,000 square kilometres of the state, that are still technically active.

If an application to renew a licence is made before its expiry date, the licence can continue indefinitely until a decision is made.

The Gunnedah branch has two motions that aim to attract more people to regional areas.

The first is a proposal to establish a special fund to promote tourism and tourist attractions throughout rural and regional NSW.

The second is to give migrants the incentive of waiting-list reductions for living in regional Australia.

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Four branches are co-sponsoring a payroll tax exemption motion. Under the proposal, all business in local government areas with less than 30,000 people would not have to pay the tariff.

With dairy farmers struggling, the Mudgee and Boggabri branches are calling on the party to legislate a "minimum fixed farm-gate price for milk for three years" as an interim measure to help "combat the costs of associated by the drought and high electricity prices".

The Tamworth branch has taken issue with the South Australian government's demand to increase its share of water from the Murray-Darling Basin.

It wants to see some of the excess water shared between the states of NSW, Victoria and Queensland.

The branch also wants a review into electorate sizes, which would consider reducing the span of the largest seats so constituents have "equitable access" to their local parliamentarian.