Well-known One Nation candidate Stuart Bond is gunning for the Labor stronghold of Hunter, north of Sydney, and is campaigning on a platform of bringing back coal-mining.
The mining electorate which encompasses the Hunter region and Newcastle, has long been held by the Labor Party, but since 2019 support has dropped and plateaued as the climate change debate unsettles the electorate.
Bonds, who worked in coal mining for 20 years, ran for One Nation in 2019 and secured 21.59 percent of the vote from a standing start.
In 2022, Bonds broke from One Nation to run as an independent, a move that severed the right-leaning minor party’s vote while he secured 5.69 percent of support.
This time for 2025, Bonds has reunited with One Nation again after putting aside overtures from the regional-focused Nationals party.
“What really got me involved was the 2019 election when [opposition leader] Bill Shorten was coming around with his ’smooth transition' campaign,” Bonds told The Epoch Times.
“I worked out pretty quickly that what he was talking about was smooth transitioning the Hunter coal miners out of their jobs, and into the renewable energy field.
“We have 100 years of reserves in mining leases here, and he’s going to smooth transition us out of our jobs when coal demands are at a record high.”
Bond’s social media videos on the topic have attracted 2 million views with locals concerned about job losses and energy unreliability.
“I’m feeling a groundswell of support here that I haven’t felt before,” he said.
Coal Mining Activity Drying Up
Across the New South Wales (NSW) state, mining expansions and extensions are becoming increasingly rare.“It’s slated that 32 of the 39 coal mines in NSW will be closed by 2040. By 2050, there will be none operating in NSW,” Bonds said.
“So we’re going to go from the largest coal export terminal of 156 million tonnes of coal a year, to zero in 25 years.”
One Nation has consistently opposed the pursuit of net-zero.
Bonds says signing up to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change’s (UNFCCC) Paris Agreement would cause irreparable economic damage.
The U.N. states that the Earth is currently about 1.2 degrees Celsius warmer than it was in the 1800s, and emissions continue to rise.
“To keep global warming to no more than 1.5 degrees C—as called for in the Paris Agreement—emissions need to be reduced by 45 percent by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050,” its website says.
But Bonds believes many Australians have embraced net-zero policies without realising their immense economic harm.
“[Climate change alarmism] has become a religion here. It’s not based on facts anymore. It’s become a cult-like mentality,” he said.
A Warning from Europe
Bonds said Australia was fast mirroring that of Germany.Last year, its combined wind and solar energy grid share was 43 percent—well above Europe’s average of 29 percent.
Wind power was the country’s largest source of energy at 28 percent, and it was the fourth-largest generator of electricity from wind and solar in 2024.
“You’ve only got to have a look at what’s happened to the German manufacturing base,” he said.
“Their power prices are skyrocketing. And we do not want to go down that road because we know that once your manufacturing goes, it never comes back.”
Preferencing Among the Minor Parties
Meanwhile, the Liberal-National Coalition has put One Nation fourth on its Victorian Senate preferences.Its a slight improvement for One Nation compared to their 2022 position, when they were not preferenced at all.
Previously, Hanson told this publication she believed the Liberal Party was beginning to “wake up” to working with One Nation.
One Nation will preference minor right-leaning parties first, including the Libertarians, Trumpet of Patriots, and the Shooters, Fishers, and Farmers.
