Nationals MLC Sam Farraway met with East Orange protesters on Friday afternoon, and while he didn't have any good news, his words gave the residents hope.

Under a blazing sun human temperatures mostly remained cool, however Mr Farraway did face a barrage of questions.

And often they came at him in twos, as residents jumped in to demand to know why the state government would wilfully upend their little community, with its mix of private and social housing renters, and owners; why it would damage house prices; why it wasn't transparent enough; why it wouldn't utilise other land in the city.

Mr Farraway - who said he became aware of the issue after reading about it in the Central Western Daily - wasn't able to offer anything concrete to the social housing tenants whose lives have been on hold since being advised in October that they would be moved on at an unknown time to an unknown place.

But he did concede - a number of times - that the government and the Land and Housing Corporation "needed to go back to the drawing board".

He also said that government bodies involved in soil testing and surveying at the social housing properties had been told to down tools.

"This is not a done deal," he assured residents.

He said he had met with housing minister Melinda Pavey last week to inform her that "the community has not been taken on this journey ... I have advocated everyone's views, and that's what the minister needed to hear.

"I've met with mayor Reg Kidd on this as well, because I do believe there is other land in Orange, and some of it may very well be Crown land that we can look at."

Mr Farraway said soil testing and surveying at the sites had been "halted".

He said he will meet again with minister Pavey next week, where he will stress the urgency of letting social housing tenants know if they are to be evicted, or can remain in their homes.

By the end of the meeting Mr Farraway had earned a round of applause.

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