The NSW Greens candidate in the crucial Upper Hunter by-election says she is the only one committed to building a prosperous post-coal future for the region.
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Upper Hunter Shire councillor Sue Abbott was on Thursday announced as the Greens candidate in the May 22 by-election.
The Berejiklian government is desperate to hold the marginal seat - otherwise it will spend the remaining nearly two-years of its current term in minority.
Nationals MP Michael Johnsen resigned on March 31 after being accused of raping a woman in 2019, which he denies.
Ms Abbott was elected to the Upper Hunter Shire council in 2016 and had been a strong voice for retaining local services, fairness and protecting the local environment, the Greens said in a statement.
Greens NSW MP David Shoebridge described Ms Abbott as "a principled and passionate Upper Hunter local with a great track record of working with the community to protect local services and save the local environment".
"The change to renewables is an opportunity for the Upper Hunter to secure billions of investment dollars in clean green energy and the industries which will follow," he said.
Ms Abbott said people in the Upper Hunter had been "grossly let down by the major parties who seem to be competing with each other to lower the standard of politics, and this by-election is a great chance for locals to vote for change".
"I am committed to protecting the Upper Hunter's air quality, farmland and water resources from the further expansion of the coal industry," she said.
"This is an industry without a long-term future and we need policies to help map out a prosperous and healthy post-coal future for the Upper Hunter."
Any expansion of coal, gas or gas pipelines in the Hunter would hamper the diversification of the economy and lock the region into a dead-end future, she said.
"The Greens are the only political party not welded on to the demands of the multinational mining companies and a handful of mining billionaires at the expense of community health, other local industries and the environment," she said.
Labor has put forward ex-coal miner and local CFMEU leader Jeff Drayton as its Upper Hunter candidate, while Singleton Business Chamber president Sue Gilroy will run for the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party.
One Nation is also expected to put forward a candidate.
The major parties are keen to declare their support for the coal industry in an electorate that has 15 per cent of residents employed in the industry.
That is despite an Australia Institute poll of 668 people in the region finding that 57.4 per cent of voters supported a moratorium on new coalmine approvals and a remediation plan for existing mines in the Hunter Valley.
The Greens say they are also committed to rebuilding a fully functioning TAFE at Scone.
Australian Associated Press
