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Future of Hunter coal-mining communities may hinge on election result

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A drive along the New England Highway towards Muswellbrook in the NSW Hunter Valley reveals ample evidence of a region with energy at its core.

The towers of the Bayswater Power Station, often billowing with plumes of water vapour, catch the eye before the former Liddell Power Station comes into view — its structure becoming skeletal as it is slowly demolished.

Giant coal pits line the side of the road, some spanning several kilometres.

Almost all the vehicles travelling along the highway are utes and trucks heading to and from the coal fields.

The workers in those vehicles are the blood running through the veins of the region's economy, and coal is its heart.

But the life support is slowly being switched off.

In the past the region was Labor heartland, but with some mines already closed and more scheduled to shut within the next 15 years, communities are pondering an uncertain future.

They are also weighing up which side of politics might offer them the most hope.

The major parties have put forward vastly different energy policies, with the Coalition's staple project being nuclear power and Labor focusing on renewable energy.

The Coalition plans to develop a nuclear power site at the former Liddell coal-fired power station which sits just outside the marginal seat of Hunter, which Labor holds by just 4.8 per cent.

A man speaking to another man.

Harry Hobden wants to continue growing his family-owned business. (ABC Newcastle: Romy Stephens)

Resident in nearby Muswellbrook, Harry Hobden, is ready to embrace change.

He works at a family-owned steel supplies business in the town where Peter Dutton announced the nuclear sites.

"I'm completely for nuclear, we need base-load power in Australia," he said.

"We want to continue growing the business, if something like nuclear doesn't come in, the growth isn't going to be there."

Not everyone in the town supports nuclear, with many raising environmental and safety concerns.

But it is clear residents are calling for a big industry to secure the region's future.

Offshore wind

An almost two-hour drive south east of Muswellbrook lies the very safe Labor seat of Newcastle, home to the world's largest coal port.

It is where deckhand Shan Smith works on tugboats, helping guide ships in and out of the harbour.

Wheat, steel and aluminium are among the port's exports, but coal dwarfs them all.

A man leaning against large ropes on a tugboat

Shan Smith hopes offshore wind will help ensure job security. (ABC Newcastle: Romy Stephens)

"Our work is probably 90 per cent dependent on coal at the moment," Mr Smith said.

Almost 150 million tonnes of coal left Newcastle's shore in 2024, up from more than 144 million the year before.

Mr Smith said abandoning coal without proper planning could have dire consequences.

"It would decimate the region, Newcastle especially, we're very dependent on coal," he said.

A map of the Hunter coast highlighting a section in the ocean.

A feasibility licence has been offered to Novocastrian Wind for a wind farm off the coast of Port Stephens. (Supplied: Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water)

Labor's renewable energy rollout will be firmed by gas, batteries and hydrogen.

The government has announced six offshore wind priority areas across the country, including the Hunter coast.

Mr Smith said he welcomed the prospect.

"Renewables is a really good option for us especially in the port with offshore wind and hydrogen as well," he said.

"I think we're probably going to need more tugs eventually with the way that [offshore wind turbines] are going to be built being floating, hopefully being assembled onshore and then towed out.

"With these new initiatives, hopefully that can last decades into the future, especially with the offshore wind and construction phase of that, I think we're in a pretty good spot if we can get these things ticked over."
Two people sitting beside a placard that reads 'No coastal wind farms Port Stephens' with a crowd behind them

Port Stephens residents have campaigned against offshore wind since the local zone was announced. (ABC Newcastle: Romy Stephens)

But the offshore wind zone has faced backlash at Port Stephens, north of Newcastle.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has promised to scrap the Hunter project if he becomes prime minister.

The tourism hotspot is in the Paterson electorate, which has been held by Labor's Meryl Swanson since 2016.

But with a margin of just 2.6 per cent it is firmly in the Liberal Party's sights.

No Offshore Turbines Port Stephens president Ben Abbott said there was too much uncertainty around potential environmental, visual and economic impacts.

"The main concern is that there'll be a decline in tourism, decline of fishing,"
he said.

"We're not asking for extended consultation, we're not asking for a delay, we're asking for the right answer in the right area and we don't believe this is the right answer in the right area."

An unclear future?

The Coalition expects nuclear power to start coming online between 2035-37.

Justin Page, from the Hunter Jobs Alliance, said thousands of people in the region could be out of a job by then. 

"There's a significant issue in terms of the timing and the scale of workers that will be out of jobs that are coal-related and power-station related before nuclear comes online," he said.

Mr Page said energy was being politicised in the lead up to the election.

He urged the region to continue down the path of renewables. 

"We need to give the investors confidence that this is the right place, and continually changing energy policy isn't good for that," he said.

"We've got the workforce, we've got the skills, we've got the transmission infrastructure, we've got the port, we've got all the right ingredients to successfully transition."
A man wearing a high visibility orange work shirt with a long black beard standing next to two men slightly out of frame

Steve Fordham wants the Hunter Valley to continue being a major energy producer for Australia. (ABC Upper Hunter: Mat Perry)

Steve Fordham is a business owner in Muswellbrook and also chair of the National Party in the Hunter.

His company, like most businesses in the town, is closely entwined with the mining sector.

He said many residents were sick of the energy debate. 

"In regional areas we get told what's good for us, not actually get asked what's good for us,"
Mr Fordham said.

"We know exactly what we can do to transition, we know what we can do to find those opportunities.

"There could be some great collaboration of bringing all of these power sources together."

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