The Batman by-election will be the "final nail in the coffin" of the Adani coal mine, the Australian Greens predict.
The minor party is pitching the contest to replace Labor MP David Feeney, who resigned because of his dual-citizenship status, as a referendum on the giant Queensland mining project.
"Australians simply don't want it," leader Richard Di Natale told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
"Make no mistake this is a campaign that will put the final nail in the coffin of the looming Adani coal mine."
Labor has adopted a more hardline stance against the project, which is struggling to find public financing and political support.
News that makes sense
Your trusted source for staying up-to-date with the world around you. Get free daily news updates and analysis, straight to your inbox.
The Greens, running on a tax and health reform platform, are confident of taking the historically safe Labor seat.
"But as a Richmond supporter who has endured 37 years of hardship, I am very reluctant to be saying anything other than we're in it to win it," Senator Di Natale said.
Former ACTU president Ged Kearney is running for Labor in the inner-Melbourne electorate.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has said it's unlikely the Liberals will stand a candidate, drawing a sharp rebuke from Labor MP Nick Champion who sees it as an act of political cowardice from the prime minister.
"It's a sort of calculation that this will give the Greens a leg-up when the prime minister and the rest of the Liberal Party always tell us that the Greens are worse than Genghis Khan," he told reporters.
