Former Labor Party member Paul House now standing for the Liberals

Mr House never stood for election for Labor but belonged to the party for about five years, from 2005 to 2010, and even held the post of secretary of the south Woden sub-branch.

Also on Wednesday, it emerged that a second Liberal, Jacob Vadakkedathu, was also a member of the Labor Party, "for a short time in the late 2000s", according to a Liberal spokesman.

Mr House is a Ngambri man and active in the local Aboriginal community. He's the son of well-known indigenous leader Matilda House. He lives in Woden-Weston but works for the NSW department of environment and heritage in Queanbeyan.

Labor secretary Matt Byrne confirmed Mr House had been a member of the party.

Mr House said he had quit Labor because there "obviously wasn't room for an indigenous person there".

"I was sick and tired of the factional fighting, the dysfunction, it wasn't for me," he said, describing the Liberals as "the only legitimate party to lead us into a shared future", with a better commitment to indigenous issues. The Liberals had also made him "feel welcomed" when he joined in 2013.

Mr House said he had held long-time political aspirations.

He is standing in his home area for the seat of Murrumbidgee, the same seat being contested by Liberal Leader Jeremy Hanson.

The Liberals, who unveiled their candidates on Wednesday, will be counting on getting three candidates elected in the seat, with Mr Hanson's personal vote expected to help. Sitting parliamentarian Giulia Jones also stands in the seat, and the Liberal newcomers alongside Mr House are anaesthetist John Ellingham and federal Liberal staffer Peter Hosking, who works for Tasmanian Senator David Bushby.

In March, branch president Arthur Potter said he expected more candidates than spots.

"At the moment it looks as though we are going to be oversubscribed which means we will have contested preselections in all of the seats," he said then.

But the excess of willing candidates did not eventuate and there are only 25 candidates for 25 positions. This makes the party vote at the end of April to endorse them something of a formality, but it is possible for party members to decide against endorsing a candidate. The line-up will be confirmed after that vote.

Chic Henry was a notable omission from the list. He joined the Liberals two years ago with the intention of standing, but decided earlier this year not to go ahead.

Mr Henry, a former Australian Motorist Party candidate, said the biggest factor was the cost. While the law sets a spending cap of $40,000 per candidate, Mr Henry said: "If you can't round up about $100,000 you haven't got a hope in hell. I just don't have the finances to do what needs to be done."

He had other reasons for not standing - his family was not keen given the stress it would take on family life, he would turn 70 this year, and he did not have a job that would allow him to take the time out to campaign, he said.

The Liberals are charging candidates $3300 to stand this year, up from $600 at the previous election.

Two candidates are standing in electorates other than where they live - Denise Fisher, retired from foreign affairs, who stands in Belconnen, and Amanda Lynch, a former head of the Real Estate Institute, who stands in Gungahlin. Both women live in the inner south.

Liberal Leader Jeremny Hanson said the fact that Mr House and Mr Vadakkedathu had belonged to Labor demonstrated the LIberals were "inclusive and welcoming".

"The reality is that there are many people in our community who were once Labor supporters who have come across to the Liberal Party because we better represent their values," he said.