More than 300 protesters concerned for the future of agriculture and rural communities from the looming threat of mining gathered at the LNP shadow community cabinet meeting in Toowoomba at the weekend.

Dressed in black and green and wearing dust masks, most groups represented Gowrie Junction and Fel- ton ? regions with coal exploration permits granted and the ongoing threat of large open-cut mines hanging over their heads.

Clutching handmade banners, the sea of upturned faces roared at the LNP to "keep their promise" to protect prime agricultural land from expanding mining interests.

LNP State Opposition Leader John-Paul Langbroek left his appointments with constituents to address the protesters, receiving rapturous applause when he called on the Bligh Government to review the current exploration grant process.

"The legislation should be changed so exploration permits should not be given where the welfare of farms, businesses and communities are a major concern," he said.

However, Mr Langbroek stopped short of providing examples of which areas should not be mined, claiming the Opposition, like the Government, was still deciding which regions contained prime agricultural land.

The issue avoidance drew much mirth from a crowd tired of the run-around from Parliament house.

"No one is going to say we should not have exploration anywhere in the State, but the legislation has too many holes where people don't know the mining is going to happen," Mr Langbroek said.

"That is obviously something that has to be changed."

Friends of the Earth campaigner Drew Hutton called out from the increasingly frustrated audience, calling on Mr Langbroek to declare simply "yes or no" whether an LNP government would ban all mining in areas where people were settled, it was environmentally sensitive and where there was farming.

Mr Langbroek stumbled in his response. At one point Mr Hutton dismissively turned his back on Mr Langbroek, claiming he was evading the question, until the Leader of the Opposition was forced to simply respond: "Yes Drew, we will."

Friends of Felton spokesman Rob McCreath said that, while it was a good opportunity to rally support for their cause with the Opposition, all eyes were now firmly focused on the Queensland Government community cabinet meeting in Toowoomba on Sunday.

He said he hoped a larger crowd, with more Toowoomba locals, would attend the rally.