New WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam says she's confident she can force the removal of influential powerbroker Nick Goiran from a key parliamentary role, in what will be a critical test of her leadership.
Ms Mettam believes she has the numbers in the party room to start tackling the influence of a factional group known as 'The Clan' by removing Mr Goiran as party secretary.
But the McGowan government has panned Ms Mettam's attempts to curb factional power as half-hearted, given she is allowing a key member of The Clan, Upper House MP Peter Collier, to remain in shadow cabinet after he belatedly apologised for sending misogynistic text messages.
Upper House Leader Sue Ellery was dismissive of Ms Mettam's claim she had drawn a "line in the sand" for the party, immediately after becoming leader on Monday.
"It's a very wonky line in the sand," Ms Ellery said.
"It's half a line in the sand if it only applies to one of the people in shadow cabinet who were described, really in scathing terms by a report commissioned by the Liberal Party itself."
That internal party report, released following the Liberal's disastrous 2021 election result, had found the "corrosive impact of factionalism" still plagued the Liberal party.
Ms Mettam has vowed the internal dysfunction which turned off voters at recent state and federal elections would not be a part of her leadership.
No apology from Goiran
As part of that, Ms Mettam asked Mr Goiran to apologise for his role in 'The Clan', including leaked messages from a WhatsApp group where he boasted about branch stacking.
But she said Mr Goiran refused to do so.
"I requested an apology from Nick Goiran as well, it's disappointing that apology has not been forthcoming," she said.
"It's disappointing that I have had to take the unprecedented measure of stripping, or intending, or illustrating my intention to strip, Nick Goiran of his portfolios."
Mr Goiran denied the ongoing existence of The Clan, but would not say such a group never existed.
"Whatever people think that group was, it certainly does not exist anymore," he said.
He was pragmatic about being stripped of his shadow portfolios, including that of attorney general, saying if Ms Mettam needed to do this to neutralise the issue of factions and better hold the McGowan government to account it was a good thing.
"If this political strategy that's playing out at the moment enables Libby and others to really prosecute that hard in parliament over the course of this year, that's terrific, you know, I'll be doing what I can from the backbench," Mr Goiran said.
Mr Collier yesterday did apologise for his comments in the WhatsApp group messages, which included describing one Liberal woman as a "prize bitch" who everyone hated and another as a "toxic cow".
Parliamentary secretary role in doubt
Ms Mettam now believes she will have the votes in the partyroom meeting on Thursday to remove Mr Goiran as the party's parliamentary secretary, after her initial attempt on Monday was defeated by the majority of Liberal MPs.
"It will be disappointing if the party room has to go to a vote, but I would be, I am confident I will have the support of the party room with that vote," she said.
Ms Ellery suggested Ms Mettam had done a deal with Mr Collier to stay in shadow cabinet if he apologised, 18 months after the WhatsApp messages became public.
She said it was not good enough and Ms Mettam needed to demand Mr Collier give assurances "he is not participating in that kind of branch behaviour, the stacking of branches, the unstacking of branches, the control of the delegates to state conference, who thwarted every attempt at reform".
"Is he still engaged in that kind of activity that the report described as unethical, and underhand and corrosive?," Ms Ellery asked.
"Has he stopped it? What steps is he taking personally, to ensure that all of those people he recruited to the party as his kind of lieutenants, if you like, to stop them doing it?"
Mr Collier has been contacted for comment.
In a statement yesterday, he apologised to Ms Mettam, Liberal Party members and the people of WA "for the inappropriate language that I used on several occasions".
