The board is set. The bases are loaded. There has never been a better time for Hunter to get a fair shake of the sauce bottle.

For decades, Hunter communities have had a gut feeling that the region just isn't getting its fair share, regardless of what party is in power.

That frustration has led to a new alliance of 50 groups, all calling for the region's politicians to do better. It seems like we are hearing about new "strategic partnerships" or "coordinated working groups" every few months, which often amount to nothing more than a few buzz words.

But the Hunter Community Alliance is significant. There's no democratic tension in the Hunter, which is considered safe territory for Labor. Unfortunately history shows us political parties (of all persuasions) are more likely to pull out the cheque book for the marginal and swinging.

To be fair, it's basic economics - why spend money on something (aka votes) when you were going to get it for free anyway?

Let's hope Hunter politicians can use their unified voice to lobby the purse-string holders. Everything is in place for them to wield their influence and deliver for their communities.

But if they fail to use this opportunity, it leads to an interesting question: will the region continue to vote for them?

The answer is simple if you take a cursory glance at historical voting patterns. Yes, the Hunter Valley is Labor heartland, it always has been and always will be.

But it gets more complicated when you look at the region's changing population demographics and the nationwide vote behaviour in the past few elections.

Our region is growing, we all know that. The Cessnock local government area alone will grow by about 12,000 by 2026. The majority of people coming are young families who have been priced out of Sydney, people who have no ties to the Hunter's Labor history.

At the last federal election one-in-three people voted for a candidate who wasn't standing for Labor or the Coalition, a trend that is expected to become more prominent in the coming years.

What does all this mean? Well, if Labor continues to take its heartland for granted, it's in danger of losing seats to community-minded independents, who fuel their campaign on a decade's worth of frustration.

They won't be the same as the 'teal' independents that poached several inner-city seats from the Liberals. They'd probably have a more rural flavour, like the independent king Tony Windsor, mixed with the ability to work with both sides of the corridor like Indi independent MP Helen Haines.

The chessboard is set for the Labor Party to finally deliver for the Hunter Valley. But if it makes the wrong move, a pawn may sneak up and take its queen.