The pledge, which has been adopted by all elected members of the Greens and three retiring Labor MPs - Anna Burke, Kelvin Thomson and Melissa Parke - calls for an end to the $2.2 billion in public funds spent on the diesel rebate for miners and a moratorium on political parties accepting donations from miners. Labor's Justine Elliot and Janelle Saffin have broken ranks with party policy to support a push to ban mining donations and fossil fuel subsidies. The Coalition and Labor took $3.7 million in donations from the fossil fuel sector last year and an ALP spokesman said the party's policy had not changed. Labor has tried to heal its relationship with the sector since the destructive protest agains the mining tax during the Rudd - Gillard era. But on Wednesday, Ms Elliot, whose seat of Richmond is under siege from the Greens, said she had adopted the fossil fuel-free position to reflect the wishes of her local community.

"Janelle and I have felt strongly about this for some time. We wanted to make it clear we do not take any donations from miners in our local campaigns, particularly from the harmful coal seam gas sector," she said. Opposition Leader Bill Shorten with Ms Elliot earlier this month. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Ms Saffin said: "Coal is dead, it's over." "We have taken this position in response to our local community concerns. We're anti-CSG, we want to protect the North Coast." Janelle Saffin, Labor candidate in the seat of Page. Credit:James Brickwood

Ms Saffin said her stance was well known within Labor but said the party was "totally committed to renewables" as a point of difference with the Coalition. A Labor spokesman said: "Unlike the Liberals, Labor supports real action on Climate Change. All donations to Labor are consistent with the electoral act and Labor policy." Labor and the Liberals have maintained support for diesel fuel subsidies opposed by the Greens. Credit:Bloomberg The Coalition immediately jumped on the division, with rural Liberal MP Dan Tehan comparing it to the revolt on the Labor backbench that led to the ban on live exports by former prime minister Julia Gillard in 2011. "It wasn't bad enough for them last time to ban the live cattle export trade to Indonesia now they want to kick farmers in the guts even harder," he said, referring to the diesel rebates accessed by farmers.

Page, which Ms Saffin held for six years until 2013, is held by the National Party's Kevin Hogan with a margin of 3.1 per cent after the recent redistribution. Richmond has become a key target seat for the Greens after success at state level in 2015 when the party won Ballina and came very close in Lismore. The Greens candidate for Richmond, Dawn Walker welcomed her opponent's conversion but said voters should be aware that the ALP still supports the diesel rebates and takes donations from miners. "You can't say one thing to your electorate when your party is doing the opposite and if elected you will vote for your party's policies," she said. "Janelle Saffin and Justine Elliot should be honest with the electorate about Labor's policy on the diesel fuel rebate and on taking donations from coal, oil and gas."