Election 2022: ALP Hunter candidate threatens revolt on climate

The ALP candidate for the marginal NSW seat of Hunter has left the door open to defying party climate policy if it benefits the electorate.

From left, Nationals candidate James Thomson, Labor’s Dan Repacholi and One Nation’s Dale McNamara at the Hunter debate on Wednesday. Picture: David Swift

The ALP candidate for the marginal NSW seat of Hunter has left the door open to defying party climate policy if it benefits the electorate and says the coal industry will continue in Australia as long as there is demand.

Former miner and Olympic sportshooter Dan Repacholi made the comments during a ­debate with the Nationals candidate James Thomson and One Nation’s Dale McNamara on Wednesday.

Outgoing incumbent MP Joel Fitzgibbon, who has held the seat for 26 years, repeatedly criticised the ALP’s climate policy during his tenure in parliament. Labor holds the seat on a margin of 2.98 per cent.

When Mr Repacholi was asked if he would follow Mr Fitzgibbon’s example he said: “I’m willing to do whatever we need to do to make sure that we don’t get left behind for the Hunter.”

The mining sector employs just over 14 per cent of the population of the Upper Hunter region, according to the last census, and the jobs are relatively well paid and secure compared to other available work.

Mr Repacholi said the region needed to diversify ahead of the transition to renewables but said the market would ultimately ­determine the end of the coal ­industry in Australia.

“The only thing that will dictate what happens in the coalmining industry is the export market,” he said. “That will be made in boardrooms overseas. That will not be made by any government here in Australia, ever.”

A Labor spokesman said Mr Repacholi was the clear winner from the debate. “Only Labor has a policy to end the labour-hire rorts that plague the mining ­industry, give better access to healthcare and secure cheaper childcare for 96 per cent of families,” he said.

The seat of Hunter has been in Labor hands for more than 110 years but the ALP suffered a 14.2 per cent swing against it at the last election in two-party-preferred terms.

The ALP received 37.6 per cent of the primary vote and 23.5 per cent went to the Nationals. One Nation candidate Stuart Bonds claimed 21.59 per cent of the primary vote.

Mr Bonds, a coalminer with a large social media presence, is running as an independent in the current election.

Nationals candidate Mr Thomson said on Wednesday that the ALP no longer repres­ented blue-collar workers and pointed to Mr Fitzgibbon’s record of criticising Labor policy.

“Joel Fitzgibbon was a cabinet minister, a defence minister, an agriculture minister, he was a frontbencher, he was a chief government whip and the Labor Party wouldn’t listen to Joel Fitzgibbon,” said the former community relations worker.

“If Joel Fitzgibbon couldn’t trust Anthony Albanese or the Labor Party, how can we trust the Labor Party?”

One Nation has attracted a large chunk of the Hunter vote twice before, in 2019 and 1998, and the party is hopeful third time might be lucky.

One Nation’s candidate, Mr McNamara, is a businessman from the NSW town of Singleton.

Mr McNamara said the ­policies of the ­Coalition and Labor, both of which have committed to goals of net-zero emissions, would ­destroy the Hunter region.

“The truth is the people in the Hunter and the future of the Hunter is at threat by these two parties,” he said.