Cr Troy will run as an independent for the seat of Hunter after getting the 100 signatures needed for her nomination form in less than 24 hours.

She decided to throw her hat into the ring on Tuesday, after arriving home from a trip to the United States to the news that neither a Liberal or National candidate had been announced for Hunter.

“Now’s the time,” she said.

“Nothing much has changed for the seat of Hunter.

“There needs to be strong advocacy.

“Strong independents have proved that they can be a voice in Canberra and hold governments to account.”

Cr Troy has served two terms on Cessnock Council but will not contest the next local government election, which is set down for September 10.

Cr Troy said she has a great track record of speaking up for the community in her eight years on Cessnock Council, and that she hopes she can do the same for the Hunter electorate.

While campaigning for signatures in Cessnock on Wednesday, she said she had some “interesting commentary” from people in the community.

“People who have voted Labor all of their lives said it’s time for a change, that we need to make this seat marginal.

“It’s a David-and-Goliath battle, for sure.”

Current MP Joel Fitzgibbon (Labor), who has held the seat since 1996, is running for Hunter once again.

Retired TAFE teacher Peter Morris is the Greens candidate, and held his campaign launch on Wednesday.

Singleton councillor Ruth Rogers was announced as the Nationals’ candidate on Wednesday afternoon.

The Hunter electorate was divided up in a redistribution announced in January.

The former seat of Charlton was renamed Hunter and makes up about 60 per cent of the new electorate. 

The Cessnock local government area now sits across two electorates, with Neath, Abermain, Weston and Kurri Kurri shifted to Paterson.

Paterson’s electoral candidates include Meryl Swanson (Labor), Karen Howard (Liberals) and John Brown (Greens).