Jane Caro poised to run against Tony Abbott in seat of Warringah

The author and commentator Jane Caro has confirmed she is seriously considering running against Tony Abbott for the seat of Warringah at the next election, and says it is her “duty”.

After the apparent victory of independent Kerryn Phelps in Wentworth on Saturday, other very safe Liberal seats – including that of the former prime minister’s seat on Sydney’s Northern Beaches – are now in the sights of prospective challengers.

On Saturday night Caro’s sister, a school principal, tweeted her in response to a call for Warringah candidates.

Caro responded: “Grew up there. Went to school there. Sent kids to school there. Live in neighbouring electorate. Anyone interested? Get in touch.”

Caro told Guardian Australia she was being “flippant” in her tweet but then people showed interest. She later tweeted she felt she had a “duty”.

“It’s been nagging at me for a while,” she said. “I’ve got grandchildren, I worry about climate change and our lack of action.”

Caro said she had been considering running for parliament, perhaps as an independent, but she was buoyed by Phelps’s result on Saturday.

Phelps challenged the Liberals’ 17.7% margin in the Wentworth byelection, eight weeks after the Liberal party rolled Malcolm Turnbull in a leadership challenge, prompting him to resign from parliament.

Caro said the prospect of running was “largely theoretical” at this point because she still had British citizenship. She was born in the UK but emigrated to Australia when she was six, growing up in the Warringah electorate.

She said she would be looking into the process of renouncing on Sunday afternoon.

Asked why she thought the long-held Liberal seat might be turning against Abbott, Caro avoided saying anything about the MP and former prime minister specifically.

“The sense of urgency that I feel is felt by a great many people,” she said. “Particularly climate change is concentrating people’s mind. Warringah has an awful lot of coast and people there are very much part of enjoying and experiencing and understanding the environment and how it’s changing.”

Caro also listed public schools and education, public broadcasting, public transport – “a huge issue in Warringah” – and public health as other issues she would campaign on, as well as refugee policy.

“I am opposed to Manus and Nauru and would want them closed and all the refugees brought to Australia from those awful places,” she said. “I am ashamed of what Australia has been doing. You cannot use human beings as a deterrent.”

As prime minister, and increasingly as a backbencher, Abbott has run a hard line against asylum seekers, particularly those who arrive by boat, and against any action responding to climate change.

He was a high-profile opponent of marriage equality, despite Warringah returning the country’s 10th-highest “yes” vote in the postal survey.

Abbott has represented Warringah since 1994, and the seat has never been outside of Coalition hands, however there has been an anecdotal and polled shift in local support.

The 2016 election saw Abbott win with 61.55% of the two-party preferred vote against the Greens’ candidate. His primary vote saw a 9.19% swing against him, dropping to 51.65%.

Caro said she had not been formally approached by any political party but had spoken with the Greens at an event last week. However, she was adamant she would run as an independent.

“I think that’s important,” she said. “I think I’ve always commented from a completely independent point of view, and always said what I think. I have no desire to change that.”

Tony Windsor, the former independent MP for New England, offered his support, as did James Mathison, the former host of Australian Idol who ran as an independent against Abbott at the last election.

“Best of luck to all my opponents, whoever they might be,” said Caro, before adding quickly: “If I decide to do it.”