On Wednesday morning Mr Harding confirmed he had been endorsed by Labor to run against lord mayor Graham Quirk in 2020.

Mr Harding, who has never been elected for the council, said too much power for too long created a culture of arrogance.

"The way you change that culture is to change the people who are running these councils," he said.

"We need new blood in our councils, we don't want these professional politicians who have been in for far too long."

Mr Harding admitted he was a "massive underdog" but had a lot of residents of Brisbane behind him.

"We've got many many days until the campaign election date, I've got a lot of bold plans I want to announce, they get me excited," he said.

He said the council lacked openness and transparency.

"We have a lord mayor and council which think they are untouchable," he said.

"We need to get him [Cr Quirk] out of office."

In 2016 Mr Harding secured 31.96 per cent of the votes, while Cr Quirk received 53.53 per cent.

The previous Labor lord mayoral candidate, Ray Smith, attracted just 31.7 per cent of the two-party preferred vote in 2012, leaving Cr Quirk with a massive 68.3 per cent.

Cr Quirk confirmed he would nominate to run in the 2020 election in May 2018.

The next Brisbane City Council election would be held be on March 28, 2020.