But the prospect of a half-price pollie is only part of his pitch to the Ginninderra voters: he reckons he's the only hopeful in the October 20 poll who is offering proper evidence-based policy.

The Weetangera resident has lived in Canberra since arriving in the capital as a graduate economist 32 years ago and has pledged to donate half of his MLA's annual salary of about $120,000 to local charities if he gets over the line in the poll.

An interest in the planning system led Mr Gingell to conclude that the territory was suffering from ''dumb politics'' and needed an injection of the spirit of his former workplace, the Productivity Commission.

''A lot of people are just turned off politics and for a smart territory, we've got some pretty dumb politics,'' Mr Gingell said. ''From my experience in the Productivity Commission, I can see where you can make a difference and that is, you examine policies much more carefully than they're doing these days.

''They jump in without considering the analysis of options other than their favoured option and they get locked in and things don't change.

''It's sloppy work.''

When The Canberra Times caught up with Mr Gingell yesterday at Charnwood shop he was finding the campaign hard going.

''I don't know about fun, it's just hard work,'' he said.

''I've got blisters on my feet from walking around handing out pamphlets, but you've got to give it a go.''

But Mr Gingell, 62, who describes himself as a ''long shot'', believes it is work worth doing.

''Look at Simon Corbell; it's great to have evidence-based policy in the criminal justice system, but he doesn't apply that in planning,'' Mr Gingell said.

''The Libs, so much of their stuff is just knee-jerk.''