The eclectic townships and farming communities of the NSW northern rivers will likely play a crucial role in the upcoming state election with the coalition attempting to cling on to a pair of marginal seats and win back another.
The coalition is sandbagging the neighbouring seats of Lismore and Tweed but it's on the offensive in Ballina with a parade of ministers and party leaders promising millions for the electorate.
The Nationals lost the coastal seat for the first time in almost 30 years at the 2015 election to Greens candidate Tamara Smith amid an upswell of anger at the potential threat of coal seam gas.
Ms Smith, who says she never expected to win, now has a 3.1 per cent margin.
Ballina's diverse community has warped party politics and forced ideological contradictions from candidates.
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Ms Smith said her Nationals rival, Ben Franklin, is "greener than I am".
"Seriously ... I sound like the liberal conservative," she told AAP.
Mr Franklin, who takes Ms Smith's comment as a compliment, is open to considering pill testing, despite Premier Gladys Berejiklian's fierce opposition to the measure.
"I make absolutely no apology for having as one of my key focuses protecting our environment," Mr Franklin told AAP.
Meanwhile, Labor candidate Asren Pugh has suggested he's a better environmentalist than Ms Smith.
The electorate is split in two. There's the more progressive northern district taking in Byron Bay and Bangalow and the more conservative southern region around the town of Ballina itself.
While the Nationals historically poll well in Ballina booths, the party must increase its primary vote to the north of the electorate, if it's to have a chance of victory.
Mr Pugh said the coalition was attempting to buy its way back into Ballina which has been promised a hospital upgrade and millions in roads funding along with other incentives.
"It's a genuine three-way contest, it's going to come down to a couple of hundred votes either way," Mr Pugh told AAP.
Don Page, who held Ballina for 27 years before the 2015 election, always knew he needed to be a more progressive MP than some of his Nationals colleagues.
"The regions are not homogenous, they vary a lot," Mr Page told AAP.
Mr Page argues the three northern river seats could be the "critical factor" in determining the election result.
The Nationals hold Lismore by a margin of just over three per cent but leader John Barilaro is bracing for a swing against his party as long-serving MP Thomas George departs parliament.
"It's a huge impact," Mr Barilaro told AAP.
Greens candidate Sue Higginson says there's an upswell of discontent with the Nationals in the electorate which is battling a homelessness epidemic.
"We've been neglected, we should be a thriving region, the jewel in the crown of NSW," she said.
Tweed, the state's most northerly electorate, is held by the Nationals with a margin of 3.2 per cent.
Labor clawed back more than 18 per cent from the coalition at the 2015 poll and remains the Nationals' biggest competition.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to fly to Ballina on Wednesday before her counterpart Michael Daley visits the region later in the week.
