Newcastle councillor Katrina Wark is in danger of losing Liberal endorsement as the party finalises its candidates for the September local government elections.
The Newcastle Herald understands Cr Wark was left off a list of approved nominees this week but is providing the Liberal state executive with more paperwork before it finalises nominations next week.
Sources have told the Herald that former independent councillor Aaron Buman was also missing from the list after head office vetted every candidate.
Endorsed ward and lord mayoral nominees will face a preselection vote by Liberal branch members in coming weeks before the September 12 elections.
Cr Wark said she could not comment on the nomination process and Mr Buman did not respond to requests for comment.
Cr Wark made headlines in late 2022 over a court case involving her husband, respiratory specialist Dr Peter Wark, and her then 81-year-old mother-in-law, Delma Wark.
In a case that made the pages of The Daily Telegraph in Sydney, Mrs Wark alleged her son and daughter-in-law had influenced her to sign over her Tea Gardens house to them for $1.
The couple denied many of the contentions in Mrs Wark's application to the Supreme Court and agreed to sign back the house to her before the matter went to trial.
Senior party sources would not comment on whether the publicity had affected Cr Wark's chances of contesting preselection.
Cr Wark, who ran against Newcastle MP Sharon Claydon in the 2019 federal election, topped the Liberal ward-three ticket in 2021 and won a seat in the chamber.
The Liberal state executive has long been wary of councillor controversies generating negative coverage for the party, a stance one source described as "all risk and no reward".
Mr Buman, who generated controversy when he was a councillor 12 years ago, failed to gain Liberal party endorsement before the 2021 Newcastle council election.
The Herald understands former state Liberal candidate Thomas Triebsees and ward four councillor Callum Pull will be the party's only nominees for lord mayoral preselection after incumbent councillor Jenny Barrie withdrew from the race.
Cr Barrie was facing a preselection challenge from Mr Triebsees in ward two, but sources said the former German army officer had decided to contest only wards one and three.
Port Stephens councillor Matt Bailey, who has moved to live in Newcastle, has been endorsed to contest preselection in wards one and three.
Cr Pull will be preselected unopposed if Mr Buman is not endorsed to contest ward four.
Lord mayor Nuatali Nelmes has retained Labor preselection to contest the mayoral popular vote in September, when the party will aim to preserve its councillor majority in the chamber.
In Lake Macquarie, the Herald has been told former councillor Nick Jones, who was sacked this year after missing three meetings in a row, is seeking Liberal preselection in a likely east ward contest against Charlestown branch president Matt Schultz.
Long-time councillor Jason Pauling is facing a preselection challenge from Newcastle Liberal branch member Melody Harding in west ward.
Ms Harding is understood to be the party's only nominee for lord mayor.
Liberal nominations close soon for preselection in federal seats up for grabs whenever Prime Minister Anthony Albanese decides to go to the polls.
The Herald understands Housing Industry Association operations manager Lawrence Antcliff remains a contender for Paterson and New Lambton doctor Owen Boyd is a potential nominee in Shortland or Paterson.
