NSW One Nation leader Mark Latham has slammed the government’s support of former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull.

One Nation will be running a candidate in the Upper Hunter by-election after Malcolm Turnbull backed a moratorium on new coal mines.

Mark Latham was spotted beside fellow coal mine supporters, Joel Fitzgibbon and John Barilaro, at an NRL game in Newcastle at the weekend.

Mr Latham told Ben Fordham he was surprised by the government’s appointment of Mr Turnbull in a new climate advisory role.

“They’ve got someone there who, for a range of reasons, wants to destroy coal mining and that’s an economic disaster for this region.

“They should have just stuck to their existing committees and forgot about Malcolm Turnbull, the anti-coal activist.

“Unless we’ve got coal in the Upper Hunter you’re going to turn it into one big Centrelink office, and that would be a tragedy.”

Click PLAY below to hear the full interview