Liberal candidates in Indi and Farrer, Steve Martin and Sussan Ley, promise $200,000 for Boys in the Bush camps program for wayward sons

Boys to the Bush, which has conducted 23 camps for boys aged 10 to 16 since 2017, was told yesterday it would receive the money if the federal government was re-elected.

Liberal member for Farrer Sussan Ley and Liberal contender for Indi Steve Martin flagged the promise at the former's candidate launch in Albury on Friday.

Boys to the Bush founder and now general manager Adam DeMamiel said the money would enable camps to be held in the North East, to complement stays at Howlong, Lake Cargelligo and Forbes in NSW.

He gave an insight into the value of mentoring boys, the bulk of whom were indigenous and not living at home.

"Close to 90 per cent of the kids that come along don't have any male influence in their lives, so we are changing the lives of many of these kids," Mr DeMamiel said.

"What we're doing is creating better sons and employees and future fathers and students, better blokes for our communities and we work off the pretty simple premise 'we don't tell them how to do it, we just surround them with people that show them how to do positive things'."

Meanwhile, Mr Martin plugged Ms Ley as someone not driven by ideology.

"What you know you will get in Sussan is a very hard worker and what I've also found to be an incredibly practical person," Mr Martin said.

"There's plenty of people that will make decisions based on ideology, but Sussan is very practical and out there listening."

Ms Ley told her supporters she was facing a "tough contest" without mentioning her main opponent, Independent Kevin Mack, by name.

She later told the media "what I'm hearing from independents is a lot of complaints about the circumstances we're facing, but I'm not anything positive about the future".

Ms Ley said independents needed to show how they would generate money to fund spending promises.