The Liberal Party has begun accepting submissions to an internal review into the NSW division’s local elections mess — and the point person in the federal office is none other than Josh Manuatu.
Political news tragics might remember Manuatu from another messy affair: the 2019 incident where fake travel figures from the City of Sydney council made their way into a media report. At the time, Manuatu was a staffer for then energy minister Angus Taylor and was identified in an article by The Australian as being “involved in gathering the information that was then handed to The Daily Telegraph newspaper”.
Manuatu kept his job and was later made director of the Canberra Liberals. The documents saga was probed by NSW Police and then referred to the Australian Federal Police, but the feds never proceeded to investigate, deeming the risk to Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and others “low”. Neither Manuatu nor anyone else was ever interviewed by the AFP over the saga, the force told Senate Estimates in 2020. Crikey is not suggesting any wrongdoing by Manuatu.
Crikey was leaked an email sent Wednesday morning by Manuatu — now the party’s assistant federal director — to members of the Liberal federal executive committee, inviting them to make submissions about the NSW division’s “preparedness for the next federal election”. The email notes the review, by Brian Loughnane, was commissioned by the federal leader — i.e. Peter Dutton — and the party’s federal president, John Olsen.
As Crikey previously reported, Loughnane’s review is due by September 2. Liberal sources have said a likely outcome of the review could be a Canberra takeover of the campaign for federal seats in NSW.
Manuatu and Dutton’s office were contacted for comment.
