The Latest Breaking News from Hunter

The decline of the coal industry means 17 mines in the New South Wales Hunter Valley will close over the next two decades. More than 130,000 hectares of mining land — nearly two-thirds of the valley floor between Broke and Muswellbrook — will become available for new uses.

Post mining voids covering an area the size of Sydney Harbour could be the lasting environmental legacy of coal mining in the Hunter, a new report has warned.

"We need to get in there and work out what's going to be best for the local community."

A university gambling expert says the average poker machine user in NSW loses $4500 a year.

The Hunter Volunteer Centre will be forced to shut its doors before the end of the month as federal funding for place-based, face-to-face services dries up.

The region's half-yearly pokie losses were up $50 million on pre-COVID levels.

"Art was one of my favourite subjects and that was definitely one of my goals."

The Property Council of Australia held its Hunter Outlook 2023 lunch on Friday, where attendees heard from industry representatives about the region's position.

"A lot of people are not going to handle it well. It's going to be extremely traumatic."

The NSW Environment Defenders office estimates more than 400 landholders could be directly impacted by the proposed Hunter Gas Pipeline route.

Destruction of hives has begun at the infected properties and trace investigations are underway.