Council leaders from Bourke, Narromine and Bogan shires met last month for a consultation asking regional communities how best to engage.

Around 20-25 people including a significant number of NSW government officials attended the meeting at Bourke either online or in person.

The consultation was one of five that took place in January, including in Newcastle and Narrabri, and helped inform the draft Regional Communities Consultations Guide published this month.

"It's important that they tell us the truth about what they're consulting on," Bourke mayor Lachlan Ford said.

"If they said in the first place that we want to remove the Weir 19 (a weir about 30 kilometres south west of Bourke), for instance, many people would come to the consultation.

"When they say that they want to have a workshop about 'section 26 of the river,' most people don't bother.

Bourke Shire mayor Lachlan Ford. IMAGE: supplied

"And then, once they've done what their so called consultation, they come back and say, 'well, we did the consultation, and we've decided to remove this weir.

"Then people jump up and down, and you have 50 people at the meeting."

Attendees also spoke on topics including methods of consultation and channels to reach people.

The draft guidelines are open for public comments until 9am on 17 March 2025.

The NSW Premier's department was tasked to create guidelines after the Parliament passed a 2024 Bill mandating consultation standards for regional communities by the government.

The Bill won't apply to consultation guidelines already set out in other laws.  

Barwon MP Roy Butler introduced the bill and said the workshops have been largely "positive."

"The only downside would be that the timing and some of the workshops were held around school holidays when people were away," Mr Butler said.

"That's not ideal, but the good thing about that is that they're going to do an annual review of the guide, so anything we missed this time around, we'll be able to pick up."

Mr Butler said the workshops revealed that consultation needs to have "multiple channels" including face-to-face meetings.

He also said participants flagged having four to six weeks of notice before a meeting, and to not host them during harvest.

"If we get it right in the first place and actually speak to people and genuinely engage with them, then hopefully the information we collect is more accurate and more reflective of the community's aspirations and wants," he said.