Pete Wills, the son of a Quirindi farming family, and the newly minted Greens candidate in the New England byelection, had meant to nominate earlier in the contest, but first he had to settle a query about whether or not he was a dual citizen.



Wills told Guardian Australia on Tuesday it took the UK home office a few days to deliver the good news – that his Scottish grandmother was no barrier to him standing for parliament.

With the family history sorted, Wills will enter the byelection with a view to raising awareness about coal seam gas development in the region. He says the pitched battles on the Liverpool plains have changed people’s political views in the region. “We are not all coal huggers, quite the opposite in fact.”

Wills was born in Quirindi, went to school locally, before leaving the region to work in finance in Melbourne, then, later in London.

He returned home to help with the family properties, became involved in the anti-CSG activist movement, and worked with the independent Tony Windsor in the last federal election campaign.

Wills says he’s not running in Nationals heartland to win on 2 December; he’s running to provide a community focal point for water and land use issues.

He says with the southern half of New England peppered with CSG licenses, he wants to provide a voice for community activists and influence the political conversation over the coming weeks.

He says farmers on the plains “have no faith in the coal companies and no faith in the National party”.

“People up here used to say Barnaby Joyce will save us, but not anymore. People feel completely and utterly abandoned, so if we are not part of the conversation, then we are not part of a resolution.”

Wills acknowledges it is unusual for a person of his background to be a Green, rather than a National, or a regional independent, but he says he’s always had progressive political views.

In his youth he supported the Australian Democrats. He says he’s been a member of the Greens for a couple of years, because “who is else is talking about climate change seriously, apart from the Greens?”

“There are so many farmers who want real action on climate change.”

With nominations in the byelection closing on Thursday, the field in New England now includes Barnaby Joyce, who at this stage has a large sympathy vote in Tamworth, the largest population centre in the region.

Labor’s David Ewings, from Scone in the southern part of the electorate, has confirmed his intention to run, as has the Armidale-based independent Rob Taber, who has run at the past two elections.

From the north of the electorate, Pete Mailler, a 46-year-old cattle and grain producer from Boggabilla, will fly the flag for the micro-party he founded, CountryMinded.

A candidate from the Australian Country party, Ian Britza, who drove across the Nullarbor plain to run in New England, has been campaigning in Tamworth this week.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, accompanied Joyce on the hustings on Tuesday.