Moderate-leaning Liberals in Tasmania, including the prominent federal MP Bridget Archer, are staring down a challenge from the state’s conservative faction ahead of the next federal election, which party sources say is being driven by the former senator and rightwing powerbroker Eric Abetz.
Multiple sources say Archer’s seat of Bass and Richard Colbeck’s Senate seat are under threat by conservative up-and-comers as part of a push that would disrupt the factional balance of the state’s federal representatives in parliament.
