If Monday's Q+A program were an audition for a career in federal politics, Nuatali Nelmes did not let the glare of a national TV audience diminish her robust debating style.
The Newcastle Labor lord mayor didn't give Opposition climate change and energy spokesman Ted O'Brien an inch in debating the future of coal exports and energy generation in the Hunter.
Cr Nelmes appeared poised in front of the cameras and repeatedly went on the front foot in challenging Mr O'Brien about the Coalition's record.
She said Mr O'Brien's arguments on coal exports contained "several holes" and a "really big furphy", accusing the Coalition of dragging the chain on energy transition while listing her own council's achievements.
When the LNP frontbencher, seated next to her, steered the conversation towards the need for a "debate" and a "plan" to shift to clean energy by the 2050 net zero target, Cr Nelmes interrupted.
"With all due respect, it doesn't demand a debate, it demands action. We need action, not a debate," she said.
She also took Mr O'Brien to task over the Coalition's record on sports gambling.
"This has just been blowing out for over a decade. This is not a new issue," she said.
"It's the same issue with vaping. I mean, there's regulation now. The kids have been vaping for years.
"There's such a lag time between responding in a legislative way to those type of issues, so I would have expected this to have been done in the previous government."
Her response elicited cheers and applause from the audience, not the first or last time the lord mayor had the crowd behind her.
Cr Nelmes' combative and partisan approach is often on show in council meetings, and her performance on Monday night suggested she would be at home in a parliamentary bear pit trading blows with the Coalition.
She has told the Newcastle Herald in the past, when Labor was in opposition at state and federal level, that she does not necessarily harbour political ambitions beyond the lord mayorship.
Local government figures rarely enjoy a national stage, and Cr Nelmes left no one wondering what she is all about during her time in the spotlight.
The Q+A visit was also a welcome opportunity for the local panellists to ventilate issues of immediate importance to the region and position the Hunter as a community embracing the challenges ahead.
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