Incumbent member for Barwon Roy Butler - who has represented the electorate since 2019 - is hoping to regain his seat as an independent against challengers from the Nationals, the Labor Party, the Greens and the Legalise Marijuana Party.

Although he won the 2019 state election as a member of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers party, this year Roy Butler is campaigning as an independent.

Mr Butler decided to walk away from the Shooters last year after a failed attempt to oust party leader Robert Borsak following comments he made that former member Helen Dalton should have been "clocked".

Without the backing of a party this year, the Mendooran local is relying on his own track record as an advocate for the community during times of crisis and in securing funding for local projects to drive his campaign.

READ MORE: Butler 'confident' he has support to get across the line as independent

"These four years have probably been one of the most challenging political terms in the history of the NSW parliament. We've had the pandemic, a mouse plague, floods, fires. We've had it all and we've come through that very well," he said.

"I like to think I've done enough over the last four years for people to put me in for another four years."

Outside of politics, Mr Butler and his family breed and raise cattle on a property near Gilgandra.

Mr Butler has served in the military and worked with Corrective Services as a drug and alcohol counsellor and coordinated offender management programs across Western NSW. He also has experience working in the durability sector.

Should he win re-election Mr Butler said health, education and roads will be at the top of his list of priorities.

"The current minister hasn't set the world on fire with her response to problems like Walgett Community College. We've tried over the four years to keep raising this with her," he said.

"You talk to the community member out there and they have a good grasp of what the problems are but the minister just doesn't seem to be responding to what their concerns are."

Mr Butler's main contender for the seat of Barwon is likely to be Nationals candidate Annette Turner, who is running for office for the first time.

The seat of Barwon used to be considered a safe seat for the Nationals who held it from 1950 until 2019 it was picked up by the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers with just under 33 percent of the primary vote.

Ms Turner, a former head of the NSW Country Women's Association, is hoping to regain the seat for the party.

"I love challenges and I thrive on that. And we seem to be forgotten out here in the bush. I was asked if I would consider standing - and the National Party is a grassroots organisation like the CWA and that's what I'm used to working with," she said.

Born in Broken Hill, Ms Turner now lives near the small community White Cliffs where she has raised three children on a family farm. Like many in White Cliffs, Ms Turner lives in an underground home.

She has also served on the regional advisory board for Telstra, the board for the Rural Assistance Authority, and the NSW Farmers Western Division Council.

Being a long-term resident of such a remote outback community, Ms Turner thinks she will have a very unique perspective to bring to parliament house in Sydney should she be elected.

"I've been told repeatedly by different people that I must be me, and that's it. I'm down to earth, I'm realistic and I live the experiences," she said.

"So when issues that affect us come up I can say 'this is how it actually is' and be able to put the bush perspective forward."

Should she be elected Ms Turner said her priorities will be cost of living, health, education and improving telecommunications infrastructure.

Also running for parliament for the first time is Labor candidate Joshua Roberts-Garnsey, a science teacher at Narrabri High School.

Mr Roberts-Garnsey moved to Narrabri permanently in 2021 but has long had a connection to the area - growing up he used to spend school holidays with his grandparents in the small town of Gwabegar, south-west of Narrabri.

"It's such a great area and there's a really strong sense of community here and I just really wanted to be someone who can represent the area and be a really big voice for regional people,' he said.

"I want to give a voice to the people and fight for Barwon's fair share."

Outside of the classroom, the 28-year-old volunteers locally with football coaching and talks all things science on the 'high school half hour'.

Being a teacher himself, getting teachers out into the bush would be a key priority for Mr Roberts-Garnsey should he be elected. Other issues he would prioritise include giving a voice to rural and regional young people, improving health outcomes and the housing crisis.

"In terms of health - we've been really disadvantaged in rural communities with regards to staffing numbers," he said.

"In our town we constantly see people posting on local notice boards looking for rentals. They're crying out for somewhere to live and the house prices out here keep escalating and it's pricing people out of the market."

In the 2019 election, Labor's candidate won 20.9 percent of the primary vote.

"I don't try to make any predictions on what's going to happen - I try to just take it one day at a time and see how I go," he said.

"The most important thing for me is just meeting the community and showing that I care, getting out there door-knocking and talking to people."

Only a few weeks out from the election, the Greens party announced they will be running Gunnedah local and anti-coal seam gas activist Pat Schultz as their candidate for the seat of Barwon.

"I'm standing for the seat of Barwon at a critical moment in time for voters in this electorate, for social equity, for First Nations people and farmers, for the environment and for free and accessible health services for those in need," she said.

"This is at a time when Santos, a multinational fossil fuel corporation, pushes ahead with its coal seam gas project in North West NSW, a project that will cover 95,000 hectares, impacting the Pilliga, polluting waterways and ignoring Gomeroi cultural heritage."

Although she doesn't currently live in the Barwon electorate, Ms Schultz has a connection with the area having attended Wee Waa High School, just outside of Narrabri, in her youth.

She has also campaigned in Barwon for 11 years to protect the Pilliga Forest, the Great Artesian Basin and farmland from coal seam gas. She also advocates for local farmers in Barwon whose livelihoods are threatened by extractive industries.

Should she be elected, Ms Schultz says her priorities will include advocating for First Nations communities, pushing back against coal mining and coal seam gas and increasing access to medical services for remote residents.

In the 2019 state election the Greens attracted just 3 percent of the primary vote.

Also in the running for the electorate this year is Ben Hartley for Legalise Cannabis NSW. This is the first time a candidate for the party will be running in Barwon.

Mr Hartley - an IT worker - became an enthusiastic supporter for legalisation of cannabis when he discovered how well it worked for him following years of pharmaceuticals causing him serious stomach problems.

He strongly believes in equality and is concerned regional NSW is being left behind in funding and resources from government. He is opposed to coal seam gas and believes sustainable agriculture is the future.

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