The wide ranging inquiry will investigate the cost of outstanding rehabilitation obligations, the adequacy of existing policy and international examples of effective rehabilitation practice.

Lock the Gate said the inquiry was a chance for regional Australians to tell politicians why big mining companies shouldn’t have been allowed to leave their communities to deal with the health, environmental and agricultural impacts of abandoned mines.

“Instead of just up and leaving when mines close, mining companies should be made to employ locals to rehabilitate the site, generating new jobs when they’re needed most and reducing damage to surrounding agricultural land,” president Drew Hutton said.

NSW Mining said every mining operation in the state was required by law to regularly update and publish its rehabilitation progress and plans.