Elizabeth Kikkert, the member for Ginninderra who was dumped as a Liberal candidate following an internal investigation, has had a meeting with the Belco Party to discuss her political future.
Mrs Kikkert met with the party, which was established by former Liberal MLA Bill Stefaniak, on Tuesday morning, The Canberra Times can reveal.
Mr Stefaniak confirmed he had met with Mrs Kikkert but said he was very comfortable with the three candidates the party already had lined up to run in Ginninderra.
The former attorney-general, who has signalled his intention to run in Ginninderra, would not be drawn on whether Mrs Kikkert could run as a candidate for the Belco Party.
The Belco Party fielded candidates in 2020 but has never won an Assembly seat. Liberal figures are understood to have advised the minor party against endorsing Mrs Kikkert as a candidate.
Mrs Kikkert did not respond to questions from The Canberra Times on Wednesday.
The former Liberal, who was first elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2016, has not made any public statements since she was dumped by her party.
Mrs Kikkert was disendorsed after the party's management committee unanimously decided to dump the Ginninderra MLA from its ticket, a little more than a month from polling day.
The party issued a statement in the early hours of Tuesday morning to confirm its management committee had decided Mrs Kikkert would not contest the election as one of the party's endorsed candidates.
"This decision was not taken lightly, but reflects the seriousness with which the Liberal Party takes compliance with obligations of candidates and MLAs under the Electoral Act 1992, including but not limited to disclosure of donations and electoral expenditure," the party said in a statement.
"In taking the decision, the Liberal Party also took into account conduct which had exposed the party to potential workplace claims as a result of Mrs Kikkert's behaviour towards employees."
The Liberal party room then resolved to remove Mrs Kikkert, announcing the move later on Tuesday afternoon.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr on Tuesday said it was incumbent on Mrs Kikkert or the Liberals to provide more information to the community.
"Disendorsing a sitting MLA in this way with a press release in the small hours of the morning, hoping to slide through under the cover of an election commitment announcement, looks a bit sneaky and clearly highlights that there are issues," Mr Barr said.
Mrs Kikkert received 9.3 per cent of the vote at the 2020 election, ahead of Peter Cain, who was elected as a Liberal member of the Assembly for the first time.
But defending the seat would be a tough political challenge. Helen Cross, who was elected as a Liberal to the Assembly in 2001, resigned from the party in 2002 and failed to win a seat at the 2004 election.
Richard Mulcahy was dumped by the Liberals in late 2007 and failed to win a seat when he ran an independent ticket at the 2008 territory election.
