Mr Farmer said he would stand a full ticket of five candidates in the Belconnen seat of Ginninderra, a strategy to maximise the chance of getting a candidate elected, given most voters comply with the instruction to vote one to five in order of preference.

He is also standing two candidates in the central seat of Kurrajong to target the Greens' Shane Rattenbury and Labor leader Andrew Barr, both of whom are in Mr Farmer's sights for their support of poker machines in the casino.

Mr Hettinger, a former US Air Force officer who stood for Labor in 2004 and 2008, will stand in Kurrajong. Chairman of the North Canberra Community Council, Mr Hettinger has been closely involved in inner north planning issues and said he had decided to stand because of the need for more transparency and accountability in government.

"I've never really had the feeling, especially with development and a lot of stuff that's happening around the inner north, that the government is open enough," he said. "So there's an issue with governance, and let's face it, you can only go so far in community organisations to try to get something done. Eventually, ultimately, it depends on who's in the Assembly."

Mr Hettinger, who resigned from Labor on Wednesday, said he had supported light rail, but had doubts about the current project. "It seems to be morphing from transport to something that's justifying a lot of development in Northbourne and into Dickson. The tail's wagging the dog here and it's being used to justify a lot of ad hoc development."

Mr Hettinger, who lives in O'Connor, is also unhappy about the law change in 2009 that allowed exempt development in existing suburbs, with the result that "all of a sudden people are finding McMansions popping up all over the place and they have no ability to do anything about it".

His running mate is Lucinda Spier, who stood for the Canberra First Party in 2001, and for the Liberals before that, in 1995.

Mr Farmer, who set up the Canberra Community Voters party with former NSW auditor-general Tony Harris and Peter Moore, believes Mr Kettle is in with a chance in Ginninderra, which is the seat most likely to deliver a non-major party candidate.

He believes the poker machines issues will hit home there, given the number of clubs in Belconnen, and it is not a strong seat for the Liberals, so protest votes against Labor are likely to go to minor parties and independents.

Also standing in Ginninderra is greyhound breeder Alan Tutt, who is motivated by the government's decision to shut down the greyhound racing industry.

Mr Farmer's describes his team as an "alliance of independent thinkers".

He has only listed three policies: better freedom of information laws, an anti-corruption commission, and more community consultation.

"Canberra is not firstly a development site, it is firstly a community. If there were proper consultation, Canberra would be a better city," he said.