Ms Moore, 29, (pictured) has been the voice of the Stop Coal Seam Gas Illawarra movement, raising eyebrows in political circles after her success in galvanising community action.

She helped collect more then 10,000 signatures, and was among those who led a 3000-strong march across Sea Cliff bridge in October, despite joining the movement only about 12 months ago.

In a sign of how politically sensitive the CSG issue has become, Ms Moore said she spurned approaches from both the Australian Labor Party and the Greens, who said they wanted her to join their ranks.

"I have had an offer to be a Greens organiser and I've had people suggesting I need to join the Labor Party or the Greens or both in terms of maybe being elected," she said.

Ms Moore, a tutor in environmental science at the University of Wollongong, has already run in one council election, two state elections and a federal election, receiving single-digit support in all races.

She is a member of the Socialist Alliance, an anti-capitalist group which formed in 2001 and ran under the Community Voice ticket in Wollongong's council elections earlier in the year.

She said the Stop CSG movement was not about political advancement but about campaigning for policy change, and that interest in her showed that the movement was successful.

"It tells me that major political parties are desperate to be associated with such a vital campaign," she said.