Joyce's issue with Chinese coal mine lies with NSW: Hunt

Environment Minister Greg Hunt says Barnaby Joyce's issue with a controversial Chinese coal mine lies with the NSW government, not the federal government.

The Agriculture Minister is furious about the government's approval of the $1 billion Shenhua-operated Watermark mine near Gunnedah.

Mr Joyce, whose New England electorate will house the new mine, labelled the decision "ridiculous" when he found out about it last week.

However Mr Hunt told Sky News on Sunday the mine was a project started by NSW Labor and continued by the state coalition. The federal government played only a small part, he said.

"He's always had the concern about what is essentially a NSW land planning decision... I respect that," he said.

But the minister said it also wasn't a matter for a decision under federal law through the Environment Act.

He said he approved the mine after getting legal, scientific and departmental advice, and any other decision would have been at odds with that and inevitably overturned by the courts.

"(Joyce) and many others have often commented on the fact that this isn't an area where the federal government was likely to have been able to make a decision other than the one it did," Mr Hunt said.

"His primary concern has been with land planning."