Latest independent campaign comes after head office intervened to save hard-right Liberal from preselection defeat

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The grassroots revolt against Liberals who deny the existence of climate change appears to be spreading to southern Sydney with a new group set up to take on the outspoken federal MP for Hughes, Craig Kelly.

The group, Hughes Deserves Better, has a Twitter account and about 300 followers since it was set up a few days ago, and appears to be searching for a suitable candidate prepared to run against Kelly.

Hughes Deserves Better (@Better4Hughes) Concerned Liberal voters in Hughes deserve a candidate who gets on with the job of running the country properly, rather than political point-scoring and playing factional games #HughesDeservesBetter

Among the followers is Alex Turnbull, the son of the former prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, who has posted a supporting tweet on the site.

Hughes Deserves Better (@Better4Hughes) What was that we said about the rest of the nation counting on us? Let’s take a good hard look at the upcoming election and say #HughesDeservesBetter #auspol https://t.co/BbexgS5FDd

Kelly is a controversial figure in the Liberal party. He is an outspoken climate change denier and played a central role in causing the Liberals to jettison its National Energy Guarantee after he and others threatened to cross the floor to block it last year.

He was also part of a group of “insurgents” who Turnbull identified as having caused the leadership challenge by former immigration minister, Peter Dutton. This resulted in Turnbull standing down and Scott Morrison becoming prime minister in a second ballot.

Since then Kelly has survived a preselection challenge by former NSW party president, Kent Johns, after head office intervened to save the sitting MP.

Johns had overwhelming support of the local branches, but in a deal between the moderates and the right, Kelly and others were directly installed using an emergency power.

Johns has told the Guardian he will not be standing as an independent.

Kelly is an outspoken campaigner against the science of climate change often giving speeches at right-wing branches where he ridicules what he claims is bogus science on global warming and sea level rise. He is now a regular commentator on Sky News.

Meanwhile there is another grassroots campaign developing in the southern NSW seat of Hume, held by the energy minister, Angus Taylor. Former GetUp chair and author, Anne Coombs has been mentioned as a possible independent candidate.

On Friday, Taylor signalled that the Morrison government is prepared to underwrite new coal-fired power stations. He released a list 66 potential power generation projects seeking taxpayer support after the government called for expressions of interests to provide “reliable” or “fair dinkum” power.

Of the projects submitted, 10 rely on coal.