Labor seats in one of the country’s oldest coal mine regions hang in the balance this election and so does the area’s energy future. Nuclear power, offshore wind, hydrogen and gas operations have all been slated for the hunter valley. But not all of them will come out on top, in what some locals are calling an ‘energy war’.
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00:00Neighbouring this prominent headland is a gateway to the world.
00:10Each year thousands of ships move through the port of Newcastle transporting goods around
00:15the globe.
00:16It's something different every day, no jobs the same.
00:22Deckhand Shan Smith works on the tugboats that guide ships through the port.
00:28Wheat and steel are among the many exports leaving Newcastle, but one dwarfs them all.
00:35Our work is probably 90% dependent on coal at the moment.
00:39Coal has been mined in the Hunter region since the 1790s.
00:43Many workers are fearful of mines closing without proper planning.
00:47It would decimate the region, I think Newcastle especially.
00:51Many locals expect coal exports to continue for years to come,
00:55but as emission reduction targets near, mine closures are inevitable.
00:59To help replace coal, Labor is planning a renewable energy rollout.
01:04Renewable is a really good option for us.
01:07That includes offshore wind.
01:10It's in the order of 3,000 jobs in the construction phase and 400 jobs ongoing.
01:15Offshore wind can bring $10 billion to our local economy here.
01:19We'd be mad not to embrace it.
01:21But the proposal has faced backlash in nearby Port Stephens,
01:25which is in the marginal Labor seat of Paterson.
01:28The main concern is that there will be a decline in tourism, a decline of fishing.
01:36The Federal Coalition is hoping that kind of sentiment can help them return to the government benches.
01:41Peter Dutton is promising to scrap the offshore wind project in favour of nuclear power.
01:47The former Liddell Power Station near the coal heartland of Musselbrook
01:51is one of seven nuclear sites being proposed by the Coalition.
01:55Don't like nuclear. Anything could happen.
01:58With some of the mines shutting down that are here now, I think it would keep those people employed.
02:03Liddell sits just outside another marginal Labor seat, the electorate of Hunter.
02:08Many mines in the region are slated to shut within 10 years.
02:13I'm completely for nuclear.
02:15We need a baseload power in Australia.
02:17Harry Hobden works at his family's steel supplies business,
02:21where Peter Dutton launched the Coalition's nuclear plan last June.
02:25We want to continue growing the business.
02:28If something like nuclear doesn't come in, the growth isn't going to be there.
02:32The local National Party chair believes there's room for compromise.
02:36This energy war between politicians to actually argue about it and say whose idea is right,
02:41it could be some great collaboration of bringing all these power sources together.
02:45He also wants more input from locals.
02:48In regional areas we get told what's good for us, not what actually gets asked what's good for us.
02:52Coal communities hoping their futures become clearer in just a few weeks' time.