The Liberal Party's Dai Le, independent Joseph Adams and the Communist League's Alasdair Macdonald have accepted the challenge.

Mr Lalich said he would have to check that the debate's chairperson was neutral before he committed.

``I won't do it if she arranges it because all you'd be doing is allowing Joseph Adams, Dai Le and Lindsay Langlands to gang up and kick you in the head,'' he said.

``The only way I'll do it is if it's an independent, unbiased person arranging it.''

The Liberals have tagged the contest a ``quiet revolution of people sick of being taken for granted''.

State Opposition leader Barry O'Farrell said the byelection was a chance for locals to send the Labor Party a message.

Dai Le said she was surprised at the number of Vietnamese who have not been voting or have been voting independent ``because they haven't connected with a candidate before''.

Ms Langlands said the Labor Party was not taking the seat seriously.

Mr Lalich said he was not taking it for granted as he is ``sitting there as mayor''.

``Forget about this safe Labor stuff,'' he said. ``[The Liberals] are going to fight it as hard as they can.''

Labor has held the seat since it was created in 1981 and won by Eric Bedford.

He was succeeded by John Newman in 1985, who was assassinated in 1994. Reba Meagher won it in that year's byelection and in 2007 she held 70per cent of the vote.

The number of informal votes at the last election was 1770.

The public debate: Monday, October 13, 7pm, at Cabra-Vale Diggers Club, 1 Bartley Street, Canley Vale.