The New South Wales Liberal party faces fresh turmoil with a renewed push to expel the federal MP and Scott Morrison ally Alex Hawke and to reopen a preselection challenge to Paul Fletcher.
The NSW Liberal state council on Saturday will consider several motions pushed by the conservative faction that reopen wounds related to accusations that Hawke delayed preselections ahead of the 2022 election.
These include a motion to expel Hawke, brought by the Artarmon branch, first revealed by Guardian Australia in July, and a motion to reinstate Matthew Camenzuli, the member who launched a high court challenge against a federal intervention in the NSW Liberal party.
Hawke, the former immigration minister, was accused of failing to attend nomination review committee meetings before the 2022 election, delaying preselections. The delay triggered federal intervention that allowed a three-person panel, including Morrison and then premier Dominic Perrottet to choose nine handpicked candidates.
Other motions on the agenda, seen by Guardian Australia, include an attempt to expel Jean Haynes, a conservative who attempted to challenge the deputy Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s preselection.
The conservative Roseville branch is seeking to reverse a 30 September state executive decision blocking a preselection challenge by Paul Nettelbeck against the shadow communications minister, Paul Fletcher.
In July one Liberal source told Guardian Australia that Hawke was a “deeply unpopular figure” in the party but some fear the motion to expel him sets a “dangerous precedent”.
Ahead of Saturday’s Liberal party state council Hawke’s faction and moderates are lobbying against the motion, which a senior Liberal described as “a bad idea that won’t die”. “A lot of people are very angry with the right wing for all these motions.”
The source said the motion is “going to be close” due to a large block of unaligned votes and possible absences from the state council. Even if unsuccessful, a protest vote of 40 or 50% – short of the 60% threshold required for expulsion – would still be embarrassing for Hawke.
The Liberal source took aim at the shadow treasurer, Angus Taylor, for backing conservatives in favour of the motion in internal elections, arguing that Peter Dutton’s representative on the state executive should have done more to shut down the push against Hawke.
In December 2022, the Liberals’ election review noted delayed preselections had harmed the party in NSW, where “potentially attractive candidates” were discouraged and the party “did not present the candidate with the strongest possibility of winning”.
Delays caused the barrister Jane Buncle to withdraw from the Warringah contest, resulting in the preselection of Katherine Deves, the controversial campaigner against trans inclusion in sport.
Earlier in February, Guardian Australia revealed the Liberal party state council will consider a motion to adopt an industrial relations policy to water down unfair-dismissal protections and abandon annual wage rises for middle- and high-income earners on award safety nets.
Other policy motions, which are nonbinding, propose to call to send F/A-18 fighters to aid Ukraine and to back Dutton’s push for nuclear energy.
The Balgowlah/Fairlight branch has proposed that the state council agree “that the age of criminal responsibility should be raised from 10 years to 14 years forthwith” – a stance that would conflict with recent attacks on Labor in question time for coordinating a raise in the age of responsibility.
Guardian Australia contacted Hawke and Taylor for comment.
