The federal immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has failed to appear in the New South Wales supreme court, despite being named as the first defendant in a case that will determine whether the NSW Liberal party branch can continue to operate beyond 28 February.
Hawke did not appear or send a legal representative to the court on Tuesday, as it considered an urgent application tied to the Liberal party’s long-running saga over preselections for federal seats in NSW.
Scott Robertson SC, appearing for the plaintiff, Liberal state executive member Matthew Camenzuli, told the court considerable efforts had been made to reach the minister, including the service of court documents, emails and phone calls.
Justice John Sacker noted Hawke’s absence and that the case had received considerable publicity in the media.
There is no legal requirement for a defendant to respond to a civil summons but as Sacker noted they should be given an opportunity to put their case.
The second and third defendants, the NSW Liberal party president, Phillip Ruddock, and the federal president, John Olsen, were represented by senior counsel, but have indicated they do not intend to make submissions.
The case, brought by Camenzuli, is ostensibly about the interpretation of the NSW party’s constitution and whether its governing body, the state executive, can continue to exist beyond 28 February, due to a delayed annual general meeting.
Camenzuli wants a declaration from the court that the state executive remains validly elected. The court agreed to hear the case on Thursday.
Last week the state director, Chris Stone, presented legal advice to an extraordinary meeting of the NSW state executive suggesting federal party intervention was required to reappoint members of the state executive until the party’s postponed annual general meeting was held in March.
The stalled AGM is part of a much broader factional power struggle that has left the NSW Liberal party hamstrung and without candidates in nine winnable seats just months before a federal election.
They include North Sydney, Mitchell and Farrer, which have sitting MPs (including Hawke himself) as well as Warringah, Hughes, Dobell, Bennelong, and Parramatta.
Hawke is prime minister Scott Morrison’s representative on the NSW vetting committee for candidates, and has been blamed by some party members for the impasse. One expressed surprise at his absence from today’s court proceedings.
“It’s an extraordinary state of affairs that a federal minister would not appear in court,” the senior Liberal party member said.
Internal critics say that to date, Hawke has failed to make himself available to review the possible candidates for preselection, stalling the process.
Some members of the party accuse him and Morrison, who are leading figures in the centre right faction in NSW, of attempting to engineer a crisis that will require federal intervention.
This would enable Morrison to have a greater say over candidates.
NSW factional leaders, on the other hand, have been attempting to negotiate a deal which will fill the nine seats administratively without the need to have plebiscites.
Others in the party, including Camenzuli, are outraged that factional organisers are attempting to bypass plebiscites which were recently inserted into the party’s constitution.
With 90% support from the 29-member state executive required to endorse appointments, the factional organisers have struggled to pass their complex peace deal.
The future of the NSW Liberal branch now comes down to the supreme court’s interpretation of the constitution.
The federal branch is due to consider intervention again on 3 March.
Attempts to contact Hawke were unsuccessful.
