The Greens are seeking to unseat Peter Dutton by preselecting a human rights lawyer as a candidate to take on the Home Affairs Minister.

Benedict Coyne, the former national president of Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, will run for the Greens in the Brisbane seat of Dickson at the next election, due by May 2019.

AAP

Mr Dutton, who holds the seat with a 1.6 per cent margin, is already under pressure from an army of progressive groups such as GetUp and unions campaigning in his seat.

"It will only take a few thousand votes to ditch Dutton from Dickson," Mr Coyne said.

Key issues for the Greens will be penalty rates, school and university funding, environmental protection, pensions and broadband.

"Peter Dutton repeatedly voted against the banking royal commission, against the interests of families and small business in Dickson," Mr Coyne said.

"Dutton has advocated to decrease university funding and increase university fees, he's voted against the reef, he’s voted against the NBN and voted against increasing the aged-pension."

The Greens polled just under 10 per cent of the primary vote in Dickson at the 2016 election.