With a margin of 22.1 per cent, Fenner in Canberra's north is one of the safest Labor seats in Australia.
But that's not stopping the new Voices of Belconnen and Gungahlin group from hunting for an independent candidate to run at the next federal election.
"For sure, Andrew Leigh's a good guy," co-founder Leigh Cox tells The Canberra Times.
"Everyone kind of says that ... But when is being a good guy enough?"
The group, modelled on similar Voices outfits that have elected so-called community independents in formerly Liberal-held seats across Australia, draws inspiration from ACT independent senator David Pocock and Jessie Price, who last year came within 700 votes of winning the previously safe Labor seat of Bean - held by David Smith - in Canberra's south.
"People are asking for candidates that aren't defined by what's going on in factional deals, but can actually just speak and represent those [local] issues," Mr Cox, who previously worked on independent member of the Legislative Assembly Thomas Emerson's campaign, said.
Dr Leigh, an ultramarathon runner and former professor of economics at the Australian National University, was elected to what was then the seat of Fraser in 2010 and serves as assistant minister for productivity, competition, charities and treasury in the Albanese government.
He is not aligned with a Labor faction, but the Voices group argues that the party system unfairly allows policies to be determined by factional alliances.
"If there are people out there frustrated with the system, or actually want to run, have thought about it - get involved," Mr Cox said.
"Come and contact us. This is very genuine, very honest."
At last year's federal election, Dr Leigh increased his margin by 6.4 basis points to secure 72.1 per cent of the two-party preferred vote.
There was no independent challenger in Fenner, with only the Canberra Liberals, Greens and former MLA Elizabeth Kikkert (for Family First) running against him.
He retained his seat with 50,819 first-preference votes (53.8 per cent), while Liberal candidate Bola Olatunbosun won 20,723 votes (21.9 per cent), Greens candidate Dani Hunterford 15,492 (16.4 per cent) and Ms Kikkert 7426 (7.9 per cent).
"I respect anyone who wants to contribute to our democracy," Dr Leigh said.
"My focus is on doing the job the people of Fenner elected me to do: working hard every day to deliver for our community and help build a stronger Australia."
After surveying 111 locals, Voices of Belconnen and Gungahlin concluded that support was strong for "more independent voices in Parliament" and that many would voting for a "credible" independent who listened, was accessible, accountable and free from vested interests.
More than a dozen referred to Senator Pocock as setting a benchmark for such a candidate.
When asked about their top voter concerns, respondents nominated climate change and the environment, housing affordability, cost of living, government integrity and health services.
Voices of Belconnen and Gungahlin departed from the tradition of naming Voices groups after federal electorates as it hopes to also back independent candidates at the next territory election in the ACT electorates of Yerrabi and Ginninderra.
David Pollard and Leanne Foresti, who ran for the Legislative Assembly at the 2024 ACT election with Independents for Canberra, are also founding members of the new group.
While the Australian Electoral Commission announced an update to ACT federal electorate boundaries earlier this month, there were no major changes to Fenner's boundary.
