Independent and minor party newcomers have been told to "get ready" for a fight as the ACT senate race adds another player vying for the two seats held by major party incumbents.
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Former Wallabies and Brumbies star David Pocock has announced he intends to run for an ACT senate seat in the upcoming federal elections, becoming the second independent to do so in recent months.
The high-profile sports star joins fellow independent, and constitutional expert, Professor Kim Rubenstein along with Greens candidate and First Nations woman Dr Tjanara Goreng Goreng as they look to topple the major parties.
While Labor senator, and former ACT chief minister, Katy Gallagher is expected to safely hold her senate seat, she said she wouldn't take any federal election result as a given.
"There's no such thing as a safe seat," Senator Gallagher said.
"You've got to work hard for the whole term. You've got to be accountable for your decisions and then the people of Canberra will have a say."
Liberal senator Zed Seselja's future beyond the 2022 federal election is less certain, however.
Under the capital territory's quota system, successful candidates contesting one of the two available seats need to record a vote of 33.3 per cent.
There's no such thing as a safe seat.
- Labor senator Katy Gallagher
But in the 2019 federal election, Senator Seselja recorded a vote just under that mark, owing his senate seat victory to a flow of preferences.
Polling commissioned by progressive think tank the Australia Institute in September showed the conservative senator's seat is under threat due to the Greens along with Professor Rubenstein's arrival.
Mr Pocock's arrival adds an extra hurdle for the junior minister.
But while Senator Seselja respects the footballer's prowess on the sporting field, he's described him as a "one trick pony" on "extreme climate policy".
He said he would fight hard to stop the Liberals losing their ACT senate position.
"There's no doubt he was a brilliant footballer, but from what we know of David Pocock's policies, he is at the Extinction Rebellion end of the Greens," he said in a statement on Friday.
"He brings a radical-Green style of politics to the senate race and is perhaps best known politically for being arrested after his Extinction Rebellion-style stunt of chaining himself to a bulldozer.
"He's yet another candidate forming part of the Labor-Green-'Independent' alliance that is a threat for all Canberrans."
Fellow candidate Professor Rubenstein is chuffed by the competition. She said the addition would make for a more interesting run.
The two independents are similarly running on progressive platforms but the constitutional lawyer said a key difference was her commitment to changing the toxic culture for women in Parliament House.
"[The Jenkins report] certainly is fundamental to me making the decision to run," she said.
"Women's safety is so crucial to my campaign."
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The Greens recorded 17.7 per cent at the last federal election and fresh candidate Dr Goreng Goreng said she's feeling "very confident" about their chances.
While the Wakka Wakka woman said there are people who hold the view that candidates from minority communities should be considered ahead of white, male progressive candidates, Dr Goreng Goreng said it was the policies that were most important.
"How are they going to uphold what the ACT residents want of them in Parliament, you know. Are they going to fight for the ACT in Parliament?" she said.
"That's a really important part of being a Senate candidate."
Senator Gallagher has spent most of her life in the public eye - joining federal parliament in 2015 and spending two decades in ACT politics before it.
Her message to the newcomers, should they be successful, is to prepare for the eye-opening challenge.
"Get ready for it," she said.
"I think it's very different, to be honest, moving from academia and sporting hero to politics, and that's an adjustment people need to make with their eyes open.
"I think we should just welcome people who are wanting to put their hand up.
"It's a big decision to make. It's a big job to do and if it improves our democracy and gives people what they want then so be it."
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