While The Leader couldn’t confirm who was behind the call, many political parties said planning for the March 23 election was already underway.

Tamworth Nationals MP Kevin Anderson declared his intention to stand again in 2019, but until then it was business as usual.

“I find that if you take care of the people, the politics takes care of itself,” Mr Anderson said.

The Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party has already announced its candidate for the Northern Tablelands, Uralla police officer David Good, and Shooters MLC Robert Borsak said the party was “definitely” going to contest Tamworth.

“We’re deadly serious about winning both those seats,” Mr Borsak said.

“Traditionally strong support for the Upper House from the region and we hope that translate into good Lower House electorate results.”

The party has run successful campaigns in Nationals-voting NSW seats, and won the Orange by-election in 2016.

“We don’t have tickets on our self, we don’t assume if we turn up we’re going to win. We’ve got to find the right candidate and run a good campaign,” Mr Borsak said.

“The message to the Nats is that we’re out to represent farmers and regional communities, without the baggage of the Liberal Party around our necks.”

New England Greens secretary Pat Schultz said pre-selection discussions were underway for candidates in Tamworth and the Northern Tablelands.

“We always like to look for very strong candidate for both seats,” Ms Schultz said.

“Our support is generally climbing, and if you look over the years the vote is constantly increasing.

“With the great concern for climate change, CSG and coal mining in region, the people voting for the Greens is changing – many farmers are looking to the Greens for support, because no one else will.”

Sustainable Australia Party president William Bourke said the Northern Tableland and Tamworth were both “very much our targets”.

“We have already spoken to a couple of individuals in the area and plan to make announcements in the next two months,” Mr Bourke said.

“We built up our network very considerable through the New England by-election, and the response was been very positive. We expect our polling performance to improve considerably 12 months on from the by-election.”

Former independent Tamworth MP Peter Draper said he “hadn’t ever thought about it”.

“You never rule anything out,” Mr Draper said.

“I’ve got other things to occupy my time at the moment.”

NSW Labor leader Luke Foley said the party took regional NSW and the North West seriously, and would field a candidate in every seat of the state. 

“Like everyone who lives in regional and rural NSW, Labor can see the social and economic damage caused by the Coalition government – and has a comprehensive plan and policies to put things right again,” Mr Foley said.

CountryMinded president Pete Mailler said the party hasn’t registered itself in NSW, but may throw its support behind another candidate.

“Our mission is to always get a better deal for the region, and we’ll do whatever we can to help that outcome,” he said.

“It’s not about the party, if there is a good way to get it done, we’ll get on with it.”

One Nation has registered itself as a party in NSW, but didn’t respond to questions.