INDEPENDENT candidates are declaring early for the State election, with coal seam gas (CSG) and water management looming as key battlegrounds in the north and west of NSW.
Ousted Tamworth MP Peter Draper has thrown his hat back in the ring for the March 2015 election while agricultural consultant Rohan Boehm is standing for Barwon.
Mr Draper has pinned his hopes on voter discontent with the National Party's performance on CSG, mining, electricity privatisation and underfunding.
Nats MP Kevin Anderson took the seat from Mr Draper at the 2011 election with a hefty 12 per cent swing, after unsuccessfully challenging Mr Draper in 2007 - halfway through his eight-year term in office.
Mr Draper said the time is ripe time to pluck the seat back.
"It hasn't taken the Nats very long to view Tamworth as a safe seat again and subsequently we are starting to get ignored.
"I would like to see Tamworth become a marginal seat where we benefit and get as many things possible."
Mining and CSG look set to be hot button election issues, with the Shenhua Watermark coal project causing controversy as it seeks government approval and Santos' gas plans potentially encroaching on the electorate's farmland.
Mr Draper "strongly opposes" CSG expansion.
"The science isn't there to justify it," he said.
He has "always supported mining" but maintains it should only be done in the right place.
"The Liverpool Plains is not the right place," he said.
Mr Anderson has also urged against CSG on prime agricultural land, but stopped short of requesting a halt to coal mining.
"I support the need for the State to develop energy resources where appropriate, however prime agricultural land on the Liverpool Plains is not the place," he said in November.
"I will be calling on the government to immediately approach those companies that have (exploration licences) over the black soil plains to hand back sections of those titles."
Mr Draper also opposes the sale of remaining electricity assets in NSW.
Across Tamworth's western border in Barwon an independent candidate has also committed to run against Nats incumbent Kevin Humphries.
Barwon’s boundaries have been redefined and now stretch between Boggabri in the east to Broken Hill in the west and south to Ivanhoe.
Agribusiness consultant Rohan Boehm said he is eyeing a CSG backlash around Narrabri and growing discontent over water management in Broken Hill.
Mr Boehm said he was motivated to candidacy by the feedback he's had from people since he arrived in the north west seven years ago to work in the cotton industry.
"The government has taken decision making away from the views of mainstream people. The politicians have a level of arrogance that is blinding bad."
NSW water management needed to be improved, Mr Boehm said.
"We have had a mix of drought and very significant rain events in the last few years, but already Broken Hill is looking at running out of water next year."
The electorate's views on CSG had been ignored, he said.
"National politicians are the ones promoting the industry over the interest of their natural constituents."
Mike Foley
Senior journalist for The Land.
Senior journalist for The Land.
