The mining arm of the CFMMEU in Queensland has said it will not automatically endorse Labor candidates

The mining arm of the Queensland CFMMEU has said it will not back candidates in the federal election who do not support a future for central Queensland coal workers.

The district president of the CFMMEU Queensland mining and energy division, Stephen Smyth, confirmed to Guardian Australia the union – whose membership lives mainly in the marginal seats of Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn – would assess individual candidates and might not automatically endorse Labor.

“The road to Canberra is paved through central Queensland,” Smyth said. “We know seats here will be difficult to win. We just want to make sure that if we are going to support a candidate and not the party, we want to make sure they’re supportive of workers.”

The mining division’s stance may be out of step with its parent union. The Queensland CFMMEU would not comment, but Smyth acknowledged the mega-union was a “broad church [with] differing views”.

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His job, he said, was to represent mine workers. He said an increased reliance by mining companies on casual workers and mechanised processes had hurt workers, as had uncertainty about the future of the industry. Candidates hoping to win an endorsement needed to support workers’ rights, not just coal companies.

“It’s about workers’ rights,” Smyth said. “It’s quite ironic, people like [Dawson LNP MP] George Christensen, they’ll support mining because they’re pro-business, I get that. But they don’t support the people who work in those operations. They’re asleep at the wheel on workers’ rights.

“We want to change the government ... for the whole of the country, for issues like workers’ rights and homelessness. At the same time people shouldn’t lose sight of people who work in industries like ours. We’ll campaign to protect our industry.”

Central Queensland highlights a difficulty for both major parties. Winning seats in regional areas, including where mining companies have successfully portrayed themselves as capable of leading an economic recovery, requires an almost contradictory message to other areas where action on climate change is at the forefront of voters’ minds.

The Adani Carmichael coalmine is a case in point. Last year the union’s national president, Tony Maher, told Guardian Australia that if Labor took a hardline stance on Adani, it could cost the party the chance of winning central Queensland seats.

The union’s stance highlights an often-overlooked reality of the climate debate: a global transition away from coal will most significantly affect blue-collar workers in regional areas.

The concept of a “just transition” – to support workers and communities to diversify local economies as the coal industry declines – has been a key talking point of every politician seeking to straddle the city-regional divide in Queensland. But Smyth says he has yet to see a genuine transition plan to match the rhetoric, and that the only alternative is that politicians must continue to support the livelihood of workers.

“North of Gympie people want secure, well-paying jobs,” Smyth said.

“The [former] CFMEU was the first union to start talking about climate change. But a just transition for the sake of a just transition, that doesn’t help the workers we represent. I just take the view that regional Queenslanders want jobs, we want to make sure the industry continues to operate. It’s got to be done in a safe, smart, environmental way.”