Cr Mack will attempt to end Ms Ley's stranglehold on the seat with the backing of the recently formed Voices for Farrer lobby group which is hoping to replicate the success of the similar badged Voices for Indi in the neighbouring Victorian electorate.

The former Victorian policeman was first elected to Albury Council in 2012 and is presently serving a fifth term as mayor.

"Farrer is in a space at the moment where it needs leadership," he said.

"Particularly with the drought and due to its isolation it has become one of those electorates where it needs extra attention.

"Eighteen years is a long time and I think (Ms Ley) has dropped the ball."

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Farrer, one of the largest electorates in Australia, with Cr Mack's hometown of Albury and Griffith being the two major population centres.

Since its creation in 1949 the seat has been regarded as a safe non-Labor seat with Ms Ley's predecessor being National Party leader and deputy Prime Minister Tim Fischer.

Voices for Farrer was formed late last year and has recently opened an office at Deniliquin where farmers are feeling the brunt of zero water allocations in another severe drought.

"The last major drought was a 10-year event and the people of Farrer were more resilient than they are now," he said,

"The reason is they look across the river and their Victorian cousins are getting water and they are not.

"It has exposed the whole issue of what else do we get and we get nothing."

Ms Ley's toughest election fight was her first one in 2001 when she narrowly beat former Corowa Shire mayor Bill Bott, who was trying to retain the seat for the Nationals following the retirement of Mr Fischer.

The last sitting Albury mayor to contest Farrer was John Roach in 1984 when he was the Liberal Party candidate opposed to Mr Fischer, who won the seat for the first time.

In addition to being Albury mayor, Cr Mack said he had been hearing about hardship across Farrer in his role as chairman of the Riverina and Murray Joint Organisation and its predecessor Riverina and Murray Regional Organisation of Councils.

Other issues are securing a regional deal for Albury-Wodonga, small business support, youth mental health, more mobile phone towers and identification of a greenfield site for a new hospital servicing the region.

Cr Mack has been previously touted for a run as an independent in the equally safe state seat of Albury, but has instead decided to seek a spot in Canberra.

"With the surge in state government funding in the last 12 months it is hard to know what Albury needs other than good representation," he said.

"Prior to that it was like pulling teeth and at a federal level they will do the same in Farrer once they find out there is a genuine contender in the race.

"It's the way they operate."

He confirmed he would be staying on as Albury mayor until at least April.

"If I was to walk away before writs were issued for the election, I would be doing a disservice to Albury ratepayers," he said.

"Unless something changes between now and April I will be doing both."

Ms Ley warned that voting for an independent or single interest party at the coming election could lead to the Murray Darling Basin Plan being destroyed by Labor.

“The arrival of another drought means irrigation communities in the Murray Darling Basin are staring over the cliff," she said.

"Water allocations are low, or non-existent, and the price to buy is too high.

“This week’s decision by the ALP to oppose plans for a $5 billion drought future fund and remove a cap on Murray Darling buybacks proves the opposition will completely abandon rural Australia.

“The backflip to remove the 1500gl cap on buybacks is not only treating people in the basin with utter contempt, I promise you - it will be the final straw.

“People in my electorate want their elected representative to find solutions."