Voters headed to the polls on Saturday in the seat of Port Stephens will not only decide who becomes the area's latest State MP - but may also hold significant sway in which political party wins on March 23.
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Candidates for the NSW election include, and appear in order on the ballot as, Jaimie Abbott (Liberal) Bradley Jelfs (Sustainable Australia), Kate Washington (Country Labor), Bill Doran (Independent), Maureen Magee (Greens) and Theresa Taylor (Animal Justice Party).
By most assessments, it is expected to be a two-horse race between the incumbent Kate Washington and Jaimie Abbott.
Port Stephens is currently held by Labor's Kate Washington by a margin of 4.7 per cent and is widely acknowledged as one of the battleground seats within the State.
So much so that NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has visited the area four times since June last year.
"Put it this way, if Jaimie Abbott isn't elected on March 23, then I don't think we'll be in government," Ms Berejiklian said.
And it wasn't just the Liberals who had the Port firmly in their sights, Labor leader Michael Daley has visited the area twice since his election as Leader of the Opposition in November 2018. Before that Luke Foley had also made an appearance alongside Ms Washington.
At the time of going to print on Tuesday, Sportsbet had placed Kate Washington well ahead of her opponents paying $1.33 and Jaimie Abbott at $3.00.
The closest contender following the two major parties was Independent Bill Doran at $21 followed by the Greens' Maureen Magee and Sustainable Australia's Bradley Jelfs tied at $41 and then Animal Justice Party's Theresa Taylor at $101.
The priority placed by both sides of politics can be seen by the major election commitments for the key seat with roads being a particular focus.
The big ticket items being Labor and Kate Washington's promise of $600 million for the complete duplication of Nelson Bay Road, over eight years, along with the commitment from Jaimie Abbott and the Liberals to build the Fingal Link Road at a cost of $188 million.
That comes in addition to another pledge from Ms Abbott of $205 million for the duplication of Nelson Bay Road from Newcastle Airport to Bobs Farm, to be completed within two years of election.
Roads funding aside, the controversial sale of a six-hectare parcel of Department of Education land adjoining Mambo Wetlands has been a point of contention between both sides of politics since its sale in 2016.
The land, zoned E2 Environmental Conservation, was sold for roughly $250,000 to PBU Nominees. Parliamentary secretary for the Hunter Scot MacDonald dubbed the sale a "mistake" as a result of a lack of communication between departments.
Kate Washington has vowed to buy back the parcel of land under s145 of the National Parks and Wildlife Act and the Coalition government has since made moves to compulsorily acquire the site as well.
And while both the Labor and Liberal candidates have secured major funding commitments from their parties for the area, the election campaign period has not been without controversy.
Liberal candidate for Port Stephens Jaimie Abbott was forced to apologise to Labor MP Kate Washington after it emerged one of her volunteers had been using fake Facebook profiles to 'troll' the Labor campaign.
Facebook deleted seven profiles connected to the volunteer and the volunteer was removed from Ms Abbott's campaign as a result.
A Facebook spokesman stated the action had been taken because the volunteer's use of the social media platform breached its conditions of use.
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