‘They’ll sleep better tonight’: Will the Tomago bailout stave off One Nation in the Hunter?

August 13, 2026 — 7:30pm

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Union delegate Marcus Faulkner doesn’t like to talk much about the political views of his colleagues at the Tomago Aluminium smelter, but in the afterglow of the $2.5 billion bailout announced on Thursday, he’s willing to admit it can’t have hurt Labor.

“I don’t want to speak too much about politics, and I can’t speak for the majority of workers, but, yes I should imagine a decision like this, especially if you rely on the smelter for your job, will be a factor for people,” he says.

“But then, you know, the political spectrum is very large, it’s made up of a lot of issues.”

Tomago Aluminium, located about half an hour outside of Newcastle in the state electorate of Port Stephens, is right in the heart of territory One Nation believes it can capture in NSW.

The party recently chose Stuart Bonds, a coal miner who has previously run for the federal seat of Hunter on three occasions, as its NSW leader, and Pauline Hanson will visit later this month ahead of a fundraiser in the Lake Macquarie suburb of Toronto.

And while Labor figures reject the idea the Tomago bailout was informed by the One Nation threat, there is no doubt the Minns government is attuned to the danger it is facing.

Minns was not a regular visitor to the region for much of his first term. In March........

© The Sydney Morning Herald