Last week it was reported Labor's local branch of LEAN (Labor Environment Action Network) drew the ire of Joel Fitzgibbon, who claimed LEAN had "infiltrated the local branches with environmental fundamentalists".

Anthony Albanese then came out slapping down Mr Fitzgibbon, labelling his comments "just wrong".

I'm glad Mr Fitzgibbon's scare at the polling booth last year reminded him there are 75,000 people employed directly or indirectly by mining in our valley, and that we need to protect the livelihoods of mining families.

But the question needs to be asked: What plans do Labor really have for mining?

Port Stephens state Labor MP Kate Washington spoke at the LEAN event and some local Labor councillors are racing to get out of coal altogether.

It's becoming obvious that Mr Fitzgibbon and his Paterson counterpart Meryl Swanson's support for coal jobs are now in a minority in their party.

I'm worried that locals will vote for Labor because they always have, then be surprised by the wholesale destruction of mining.

Labor used to be the party for the people, now it seems the only people they're interested in is themselves.