Voters in controversial Morrison government MP Craig Kelly's NSW electorate are brewing plans to run an independent candidate against the backbencher at the next federal poll.
They accuse him of focusing on conspiracy theories instead of his community.
Mr Kelly disputes that and says he's not worried about the group, describing them as from the "extreme left" of politics.
The backbencher entered federal parliament in 2010 as the MP for the blue-ribbon Liberal seat of Hughes, winning again in each election since.
In the lead up to the 2019 election Mr Kelly faced being replaced as a candidate in the southern Sydney seat, but Prime Minister Scott Morrison intervened after he threatened to quit the Liberal Party and go to the cross bench.
He easily won the seat again for the Liberals, with a slight swing towards him against Labor's candidate Diedree Steinwall.
Mr Kelly wants to be the Liberal candidate for Hughes at the next poll, and if he is, is likely to face an independent candidate from a grassroots movement in his community.
"We are Hughes" has been set up over concerns about the backbencher's rejection of climate change, and his social media use to promote unproven coronavirus treatments not backed by Australia's medical experts.
Mr Morrison and other senior ministers have refused to condemn him.
We are Hughes organiser Linda Seymour first became concerned about Mr Kelly when she heard he was visiting schools in the electorate and telling students climate change wasn't real.
"I went and looked at his Facebook page and went: 'Oh my goodness'," she told ABC radio on Thursday.
"I cannot believe this man and the stuff that he's saying. He is just constantly, constantly, working people into a frenzy and it is so not reflective of our community.
"He blocks local constituents regularly and that is outstanding hypocrisy."
Mr Kelly runs his own social media and insists his approach to blocking users is no different to his colleagues.
"If someone is not arguing in good faith and doing nothing other than trolling, raising straw man arguments, not debating issues on the particular thread, they get banned because they are making it difficult for people that actually want to engage in the debate," he told AAP.
The latest date for a simultaneous House of Representatives and half-Senate election is May 21, 2022 while the earliest is August 7 this year.
We are Hughes is looking at Zali Steggall's successful bid at the 2019 election when she beat former prime minister Tony Abbott in the seat of Warringah, largely on a platform of climate action.
The group has also been taking notes from Voices of Indi, which helped the federal Victorian seat make history by electing two independent candidates in a row.
Australian Associated Press
