NSW Liberal leader’s bid to get more women in top panel overruled by federal Liberals

Mark Speakman had attempted to install former federal MP Fiona Scott on the panel administering the NSW Liberal party division, but was overruled by the federal executive. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAP

The Liberal federal executive has overturned a bid by the NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, to include two women in a panel to run the troubled NSW division.

Speakman’s plan, approved by the state executive, had infuriated conservatives, who accused moderates of attempting to “neutralise” the federal intervention in a “blatant challenge to the leadership of Peter Dutton”.