Tony Abbott's sister could replace Malcolm Turnbull in the seat of Wentworth, with the City of Sydney councillor considering a tilt for Liberal Party preselection as the Greens and independents gear up for a close fight.
Christine Forster says once the seat is vacated by Mr Turnbull she'll consider entering the preselection fight.
"I have colleagues encouraging to me to stand and I am considering doing that if and when the seat is vacated," she told AAP on Friday.
Mr Turnbull is yet to confirm exactly when he'll leave the parliament but says it will be "not before too long".
Businessman and former Australian ambassador to Israel Dave Sharma is reportedly being touted as the frontrunner to replace Mr Turnbull as the Liberal candidate.
NSW independent MP Alex Greenwich says he too is being urged to run in the eastern suburbs seat and thinks an independent could win a by-election.
"A good community-based independent could win," Mr Greenwich told AAP in a statement on Friday.
"We do well at state and local elections."
Mr Greenwich said he remained focused on retaining his seat of Sydney in the March 2019 state election but when pushed wouldn't rule out standing in Wentworth.
Labor candidate for Wentworth at the 2015 election Evan Hughes would not confirm whether he would run for the ALP again but offered his opinion on the outgoing member.
"I am not surprised that Scott Morrison is the leader, Malcolm Turnbull was too thoughtful, too progressive, too introspective and yes too good to ever have worked as a conservative prime minister," Mr Hughes said in a statement to AAP.
"The next election will be won by a progressive candidate."
One Labor MP told AAP they expected Mr Hughes would want to run but the ALP had "as much chance of winning Wentworth as we do Wagga," referencing an up-coming state by-election which the Liberals are expected to win.
The Greens have revealed local councillor and First Nations advocate Dominic Wy Kanak will be their candidate.
Cr Wy Kanak lives in Bondi and is deputy mayor of Waverley Council. A NSW Greens MP told AAP he believed Cr Wy Kanak would "shake up" the poll.
Cr Wy Kanak said the the Greens were already well represented at a local government level and he expected a swing towards them at a federal level.
"It has been a gradual shift and it's positive for the Greens and we're hoping to convert that into an election result at the federal level. I think we've got a strong chance," Cr Wy Kanak told AAP.
The Liberals have held Wentworth since the party's creation in 1944. Mr Turnbull first won the seat in 2004 and claimed victory in 2016 with 62 per cent of the primary vote.
