Councillor Murray O'Keefe said mining communities like Gunnedah are often overlooked in surveys that weigh up coal and gas against renewables, and they shouldn't be ignored even if they are in the minority.

"Unfortunately, I think it's reminiscent of the barriers we have to overcome, that regional and rural areas don't contribute the majority of Australia's population, but we do contribute the majority of energy and food and primary products," he said.

"So when you get survey results like this, where people don't see a future in the very products that underpin our society and how they're produced, it indicates the challenge we face with most of our population having no idea how their life's sustained."

According to the survey, 62 per cent of people in NSW think the government's top investment priority should be in renewables, and 64 per cent believe cuts to carbon emissions will deliver economic benefits to workers.

But the statistic Mr O'Keefe finds troubling is that 61 per cent of respondents believe regional areas will benefit most from the global transformation to renewables, and that only 21 per cent of workers who rely on fossil fuels are getting enough support to prepare for a decarbonised future right now.

He said this shows the length of the transition away from mining and coal is underestimated, with plenty of mines still having decades of life left in them.

He also said it's hard to read too much into the data when only around 2000 people responded and he had concerns about how the questions were written and where the majority of respondents were from.

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However, Liverpool Plains farmer Peter Wills said he believes it does show a clear attitude change, even in regional areas.

"The pressure is globally on them, which is also a major factor in their demise, and I think people more broadly can see that there is an end date. We can't quite see what it is yet, but it's coming and it might come sooner than we think," he said.

Mr Wills believes environmental breaches by mines in the Namoi region and beyond have also changed people's opinions, and made them less supportive of certain companies.

He believes the mines themselves have noticed the change in attitude too, which has caused them to try and push through plans for new ventures or expansions, before it's too late.

"I think we're seeing mining developments that are now looking at their expansions beyond their end dates that they currently have in place," he said.

"Boggabri Idemitsu has an end date of 2032 and they're already looking at extensions today, because they can see the writing on the wall themselves in terms of 'we better get our developments sorted out now' because the attitude for them in 10 years might be even worse."

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