The Plan, made under the Environmental Planning and Assessment Act 1979, consisting of 13 sections completed by five Schedules, applies to the following areas of the Hunter Region: City of Cessnock, City of Lake Macquarie, Dungog, Gloucester, Merriwa, Muswellbrook, Port Stephens, Scone.

Objects of this Act are inter alia: (a) to encourage agricultural landowners and their tenants and sharefarmers to make suitable and adequate provision to protect properties from deterioration; (b) to permit and encourage the parties to make their own agreements regarding compensation for stored products, for tenants' fixtures and other matters; (c) to provide basic provisions between the parties where they fail to make their own agreement, or where their agreement is unreasonable; (d) to provide for compulsory arbitration outside the court system for resolving by an arbitration committee a