Greens candidate Charlotte McCabe has pointed to the Gillard government as evidence that her party can work effectively holding the balance of power.
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The Greens launched their Newcastle campaign with a visit by national leader Adam Bandt and NSW upper house member Dave Shoebridge to Kooragang Island on Friday.
The Greens used the visit to announce a hefty $19 billion policy to provide wage subsidies for displaced coal and power industry workers as they move into new jobs.
Ms McCabe, who was elected to Newcastle council for the first time in December, said Newcastle had "much to gain" if the Greens won the balance of power in the upcoming federal election, expected in May.
"We have fantastic opportunities in the Hunter to maintain our rightful place as the energy powerhouse of NSW," she said.
"As the world's biggest exporter of coal, Newcastle can lead by example and put in place the jobs and industries of the future right now, before our coal exports wind up and climate impacts worsen."
Asked whether the public wanted to see a minority government, Ms McCabe said the recent past showed how the Greens and Labor could work together.
She managed to get a huge number of pieces of legislation through, and it was evidence that politicians can work together.
- Charlotte McCabe on Julia Gillard
"It worked extremely well in the Gillard government," she said.
"She managed to get a huge number of pieces of legislation through, and it was evidence that politicians can work together; they can find common ground.
"That's what democracy's supposed to be about."
Ms Gillard and then Greens leader Bob Brown signed a power-sharing agreement after the 2010 vote led to a hung parliament.
That agreement tied Labor to addressing climate change, which it attempted to do with the carbon tax in 2012, at great political cost.
A hung parliament is a distinct possibility. The latest Newspoll and Roy Morgan surveys put Labor ahead of the Coalition by between five and seven percentage points on primary voting intentions.
The Greens are polling between eight and 11.5 per cent.
Mr Bandt is the only Greens member in the lower house, but the party hopes to win enough seats in either house to influence government policy.
Mr Bandt announced this month that the Greens would demand an immediate moratorium on new coal, oil and gas projects in return for supporting Labor in the event of a hung parliament.
Labor leader Anthony Albanese has repeatedly ruled out an alliance with the Greens.
Newcastle, held with an almost 14 per cent margin by Labor's Sharon Claydon, is not a target for the Greens, who are focused on what they see as 10 winnable seats mostly in Victoria and Queensland.
Ms McCabe said the Greens supported "key issues" in Newcastle, including affordable housing, free education at all levels and bringing mental health and dental services under the public health care umbrella.
"We are the only serious alternative to the increasingly indistinguishable major parties," she said.
The Greens' other Newcastle councillor, John Mackenzie, won 15.6 per cent of the primary vote in the 2019 election and enjoyed a 1.9 per cent swing.
The likely Newcastle candidates this time include One Nation's Mark Watson and United Australia Party's Amanda Cook.
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