A factional deal to have gender parity on the Liberal upper house ticket for the upcoming New South Wales election has been scrapped due to internal tensions.
The deal was expected to go ahead on Friday morning and be endorsed by the party's state executive but was dumped at the 11th hour.
It is an embarrassing blow for Premier Dominic Perrottet, who orchestrated the deal on Thursday to try to ensure three women were on the ticket.
Many moderates were angry that their dominant faction would have gone from three to two positions at the top of the ticket and were pushing for Mr Perrottet, who hails from the right faction, to revisit the deal struck by powerbrokers.
Negotiations will recommence after the Christmas break, with moderate Liberals pushing to retain their third position on the ticket and include a female candidate from the faction.
Under the dead deal, three conservative male MPs would have been dumped — upper house president Matthew Mason-Cox, Lou Amato and Shayne Mallard — to ensure gender parity in winnable positions.
Families and Communities Minister Natasha Maclaren-Jones was set to lead the ticket and two new conservative women, Susan Carter and Jean Haynes were also put forward.
The moderates were set to be current male MPs Chris Rath and Peter Poulos.
Sources told the ABC Ms Haynes later chose to support Matthew Mason-Cox as the candidate representing their region on the ticket, a sign the deal was set to fall apart
Liberal backbencher, Melanie Gibbons, lost out in the original deal, as initially she was looking to get a spot on the ticket.
It would have saved her political career after she failed to win preselection in her seat of Holsworthy.
Last night members of the moderate faction met to discuss the deal, where many voiced their anger at the loss of a moderate spot on the ticket and the choice of conservative candidates.
