The result on election night was clear. Australia did not want the Coalition’s nuclear plan, with Anthony Albanese’s Labor Party securing a landslide win.

It was an issue of concern to the people of Muswellbrook, with uncertainty about the future and a desire for clear decisions to be made.

For more than a century, the Muswellbrook area has been mining coal.

Mines have been the consistent bedrock for local economies, but the renewable transition, a decline in coal exports, and imminent mine closures – beginning with the massive BHP Mount Arthur mine which employees some 2,000 people and is scheduled to stop mining next year – threaten to disrupt this balance and transform the Hunter Valley community.

In the lead-up to the election, the Coalition proposed a nuclear reactor at the former Liddell Power Station, one of seven sites mentioned by former Liberal leader Peter Dutton.

The selling point was that it would bring power prices down, although the CSIRO said that nuclear would cost twice as much as renewable energy.

The council wants action

During the election campaign, the Mayor of Muswellbrook Shire Council, Jeff Drayton, put the callout for immediate federal action wanting to see clear and binding commitments to avoid a region wide downturn.

Alongside Business Hunter, the Council put forward key proposals including an Economic Diversification Fund, infrastructure investment and workforce transition programs.

“One of the proposals we have made is to use some current mining buffer land to access and put industrial type businesses, both small- and large-scale manufacturing, renewable products and some intense agribusiness,” Cr Drayton said.

“We need a number of those diverse businesses moving away from coal, so we have industries to send workers into.”

While there were several spruiks of Labor’s Future Made in Australia plan, $22.7 billion over the next decade to facilitate private sector investment and reinvigorate Australian manufacturing, calls for these binding commitments went unanswered.

Support for nuclear power

Some Muswellbrook residents are convinced that the future is nuclear.

Electoral boundary changes before the election meant the Muswellbrook Shire area was moved into the New England electorate.

At the election, incumbent MP Barnaby Joyce was voted back into Parliament, winning from 54.90% to 64.25% of the two-candidate preferred vote at the five polling booths in the area.

One resident who has confidence in nuclear is Steven Fordham, the managing director of company Blackrock Industries.

He says nuclear power would be positive for the Muswellbrook and a key aspect for economic diversification in the region.

“In the Hunter Valley, we do need an energy mix and we have battery, solar, wind and hydrogen on the horizon but nuclear is just another great option to have within our area,” Mr Fordham said.

He is not concerned that the region has experienced recent earthquakes – up to 4.7 magnitude – saying the technology has caught up and that the earthquakes are not a concern for nuclear power generation.

“We need to look at what the commonsense approach is, review it and see if it’s a suitable asset to be built within Muswellbrook,” Mr Fordham said.

“I think it is. It will be a job creator and that’s what we want and need in the area.”

Ultimately, residents would like a clear answer as to what the future holds for the town after coal.

Concern from workers

Former coal miner Bruce Waddell is one resident who has concerns about nuclear power.

Mr Waddell has lived in the Upper Hunter for 20 years, moving to the area for a job in the mines.

Just under a year ago, he made the decision to leave the industry.

“For me it was a case of, where I was at the time, winding down in five to six years, I don’t want to be competing with 300, 400 younger people for a job when I’m not short of retirement age myself,” Mr Waddell said.

While he has navigated the job-market post-mining, like most Upper Hunter residents, he still wonders how workers and the region will be supported with imminent coal mine closures.

“They [coal mines] pay good money to workers but once things start to wind down and places hit their coal reserves, a lot of people will lose their jobs,” Mr Waddell said.

“And they’re good jobs, with even entry-level salaries well above what people can get elsewhere, most staff on six-figure salaries, and plenty of opportunities for training and advancement.

“It’s easy enough for the Government to say they’ll retrain all these people and find them extra work, but will that actually translate to them getting paid the same amount of money?

“If people are only earning half the wage they were in the mines, that’s not sustainable, not with the price of electricity and living,” Mr Waddell said.