Independent vies for western Sydney seat

After years of watching her husband being an "armchair critic" on the challenges facing Australia, Mark Tyndall's wife Simone was fed up.

"She said instead of whingeing, get off your arse and do something about it," Mr Tyndall told AAP.

It was that sentiment that inspired the 46-year-old to run for federal parliament as an Independent candidate in the western Sydney seat of Lindsay.

His own disappointment at the calibre of Australia's current lawmakers did little to dampen that desire.

"Our politicians tend to have lost their way," he said.

"They're more interested at the moment in running and advocating for their party than they are for the local people."

Mr Tyndall - who was born in the electorate and has lived in Penrith for the past 41 years - made the call to run almost a year ago and has been pounding the pavement to speak to the community ever since.

He even ran for NSW parliament in March in an effort to get his name out.

The exercise served its purpose, the father-of-six believes, but it also exposed him to the grittiness of politics.

The most important thing he learnt was to be careful of people that suggest they are supporting you.

"Nine times out of ten, they're the ones that are actually knifing you in the back."

The seat of Lindsay found itself in the headlines in the past year, with incumbent Labor MP Emma Husar dumped by the party over a scandal about her treatment of staff.

Labor is hoping its new candidate, former NSW minister for western Sydney Diane Beamer, will retain the seat it won by a 1.1 per cent margin in 2016 against Liberal candidate Melissa McIntosh.

Labor has a 51-49 lead in the seat on a two-party preferred basis, according to a Newspoll released on Tuesday.

The survey also showed the marginal seat is among four in Australia where Clive Palmer's United Australia Party holds between five and 14 per cent of the primary vote, meaning it could help sway the result.

Mr Tyndall, who has worked across a number of government departments and agencies, says he's eager to fight back against the view that Sydney's west is a "poor second cousin".

What locals care about is action on overdevelopment, better infrastructure, improved healthcare and boosting the local economy, he believes.

Australia also needs to be talking about nuclear power, Mr Tyndall says, with a third of those he speaks with wondering why it isn't being explored.

Should he find himself in parliament and among crossbenchers holding the balance of power, the independent says he wouldn't support Labor's proposed tax reforms.

The reforms include changes to housing tax breaks such as negative gearing and scrapping cash refunds for "excess" franking credits.

He also thinks neither major party's tax cuts go far enough in addressing cost-of-living pressures.

"They really are tokenistic at best."