AN ELECTORATE bigger than most European countries could also see one of the biggest swings this election.
From Ivanhoe to the Queensland border, and from Narrabri to the South Australian border, the seat of Barwon stretches out to more than 356,000 square kilometres.
It has been one of safest of seats for the NSW Nationals and their precurser, the original Country Party, with no other party or independent winning the seat since it was created in 1950.
Sitting MP Kevin Humphries, then a school teacher, won the seat in 2011 by a huge margin, with 82 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis.
When the Electoral Commission redrew the seat's boundaries last year, Mr Humphries said the sheer size of the new Barwon electorate would worry some people, with an MP expected to represent almost half the state in area.
He was unhappy Barwon will lose his hometown of Moree and pick up the Labor stronghold of Broken Hill.
Country Labor spokesman Steve Whan thought the addition of Broken Hill could result in a strong swing towards Labor, with a good local candidate Craig Ashby, a school teacher from Wilcannia, who was born and raised in Walgett.
Independent Rohan Boehm is an agribusiness consultant who eyes a coal seam gas backlash around Narrabri, growing discontent over water management in Broken Hill and dissatisfaction from traditional Nationals voters over drought support and the failure to scrap the Native Vegetation Act.
"The Nationals are no longer relevant to rural communities, in fact they appear to be doing their best to shut them down," Mr Boehm said.
Many landowners in Narrabri and Walgett have opposed the Native Vegetation Act, which stops them from clearing their paddocks.
While the state government initiated a Biodiversity Legislation Review, which recommended the Act be replaced, many landowners are disgruntled it was not scrapped within the first term of the Coalition government.
Mr Humphries said the government also introduced self-assessable codes to make it easier for landowners to clear vegetation.
"The NSW government is committed to delivering a sensible set of changes that strike the right balance between conservation and efficient agricultural management," he said.
Drought has been another major issue for many regions in the electorate.
"The drought in this area is one of the worst in Australia (including drought-stricken parts of Queensland and Northern Territory) said NSW Farmers Western Division spokesman Wayne Newton.
Mining, native veg and Labor no-show
NATIVE vegetation and coal seam gas were the two hot topics of the NSW Farmers' state election event in Walgett on Tuesday night.
About 100 farmers showed up to the Walgett District Sporting Club, including a bus load from Coonamble, to listen to sitting Barwon MP Kevin Humphries and independent candidate Rohan Boehm discuss a range of issues ranging from bullbars to drought.
The Labor candidate, Craig Ashby, withdrew from the event.
Tom Cullen, "Whittonbri", Coonamble, said he considered himself a Labor supporter but for him, it was now a two-man race between Mr Humphries and Mr Boehm (pictured left) due to Mr Ashby's no-show.
Audience members told Mr Humphries they felt the Coalition had failed on native vegetation and asked why they should give him another chance.
Mr Humphries said although he accepted it had taken them so long to come up with a resolution for native vegetation, nobody else would deliver on that reform.
"No one has entered land form reforms, at the level we're going to be undertaking, in the past 40 to 50 years," he said.
"If we can't get it going, I wouldn't be standing here again, that's how confident I am."
There were concerns on the effects coal seam gas (CSG) could have on properties and water.
While Mr Humphries said although they wouldn't ban CSG outright, the Coalition would continue to protect prime agricultural land and water resources.