On the day when Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives officially threw their hat in the ring in Batman, "Albo" hit town to show the Greens they're not the only ones who do politics differently.

The popular left-winger, who knows a bit about challenges from the Greens, refused to get excited about ex-SAS soldier Kevin Bailey running for Bernardi's fledgling party.

But with the Liberals, who polled 20 per cent in Batman in the 2016 election, sitting on the sidelines, Bailey's preferences, which look likely to flow to Labor, might be the lifeline ALP candidate Ged Kearney needed.

"There's no doubt that in a byelection, votes will spray around and minor party candidates will get votes," Albanese said outside Northcote Town Hall on Tuesday.

"But the decision that people are going to have to make on March 17 is – on top of whether they have a Guinness or a Kilkenny later in the day – the decision they've got to make is: do they want a representative who can be a part of the next Labor Government?"

The smart money has Greens perma-candidate Alex Bhathal finally getting over the line – in her sixth attempt – when the votes are cast on St Paddy's Day.

That would be good news for Adam Bandt, currently the Greens only lower house MP in Canberra, who Albanese says is lonely.

"I feel sorry for Adam Bandt," Mr Albanese said.

"It must be lonely sitting in the corner of the Parliament there next to Bob Katter and Andrew Wilkie and the Nick Xenophon Team.

"It would be good if he had someone to talk to."

But Albanese never strays off-message for long, and soon returned to Ged Kearney's central campaign theme: knocking off Malcolm Turnbull's foundering government.

"There's only one political party that can form government that's running a candidate in this election – and that's the Australian Labor Party with Ged Kearney," Mr Albanese said.