Liberals in the seat that copped Scott Morrison’s most controversial “captain’s pick” have formally condemned party officials over the preselection debacle before the last election and supported new rules to stop it happening again.
Members in the Sydney seat of Warringah voted unanimously to blame the party’s state and federal executives for the record low Liberal primary vote of 33.35 per cent recorded by Morrison’s chosen candidate, Katherine Deves.
Katherine Deves and Tony Abbott – pictured on election night – were not present at Monday’s meeting of Warringah Liberals.Credit:Jessica Hromas
They also backed a new set of rules, the so-called Sydney motion, which would require the party to establish a “clear timetable” to select candidates and limit the power of the leader’s representative – who in Morrison’s case was Alex Hawke – to stymie the process.
Those rules will go to a vote at a NSW Liberal state council meeting on August 6, the party’s first major function since its electoral reckoning in May – which included the loss of six NSW seats.
The Sydney motion was drafted by NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg and Warringah local Jane Buncle, both from the party’s moderate faction – though as evidenced by the unanimous vote in Warringah on Monday night, it also enjoys support from the right-wing.
“Carving up seats like Lawrence of Arabia”: Andrew Bragg is pushing for grassroots preselections.Credit:James Brickwood
“With our Sydney motion, the days of [party officials] carving up Sydney seats like Lawrence of Arabia are over,” Bragg told the Herald on Tuesday, referring to British and French plans to carve up the Ottoman Empire after World War I.
“We must allow the grassroots members to decide our candidates in preselections, not in smoke-filled rooms. If we fail to regain our grassroots ethos, we are destined to fail.”
Bragg is among moderate Liberals pushing for the party to focus on economics and “fairness”, and abandon right-wing culture wars, following the federal election defeat.
Next month he will speak alongside NSW ministers Matt Kean, Rob Stokes, Natalie Ward and James Griffin at an event titled: “Reclaiming Liberalism: bringing socially progressive, fiscally conservative and environmentally conscious policy back to the mainstream.”
The NSW Parliament event is hosted by the Blueprint Institute, a Liberal-aligned think tank chaired by Ian Hancock, who is also managing director of Michael Photios’ PremierState lobbying outfit.
As well as supporting the proposed Liberal Party rule changes, the motion passed in Warringah on Monday condemned “those on the NSW state executive who prevented the NSW state executive from doing its job”, and the federal executive led by Morrison for “manipulating and intervening in the democratic processes of the NSW Liberal Party”.
The motion said these actions resulted in a record low turnout of volunteers and fundraising in Warringah. Local party president Lee Furlong told the meeting just 96 Warringah members out of 880 volunteered for the Deves campaign, about 40 per cent fewer than in 2019.
Warringah – held by former prime minister Tony Abbott for 25 years with a 50-60 per cent primary vote – was won by independent Zali Steggall in 2019. That victory became a blueprint for the teal independents, who smashed the Liberals in many of their former heartland seats such as Kooyong, Wentworth and Mackellar in May.
Abbott was an apology at Monday night’s meeting, as was Deves, who was due to attend by video link but sustained a shoulder injury skiing.
The Herald attempted to contact Deves for comment. She told local newspaper The Manly Daily that she intended to continue her involvement in the party and attend next month’s state council meeting.
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