Labor MPs who believe their electorates stand to gain from a gas-fired power station in the Hunter Valley have spoken out against the party’s decision to oppose the project, saying it was needed to safeguard jobs, create new ones and lower power prices.

Meryl Swanson, who holds the seat of Paterson in which the power station would be built, said she not only welcomed the 600 construction jobs the project would create in Kurri Kurri, but the security it would provide the Tomago aluminium smelter as well as thousands of other businesses struggling with, at times, crippling power prices.