The NSW Liberal executive member who took the Prime Minister to court over preselection choices has been ordered to pay costs to four senior party members.
Matthew Camenzuli lost his case in the NSW Court of Appeal earlier this month when he unsuccessfully argued the Liberal federal executive had no power to intervene in candidate preselections for the upcoming federal election.
The dispute centered on a decision by the federal executive to appoint a committee, made up of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former federal Liberal president Christine McDiven, to make candidate selections for 12 seats in NSW.
The selections followed months of bitter infighting about who should run, with some NSW Liberals accusing their federal counterparts of trying to run the clock out so Mr Morrison could parachute in his preferred picks.
This goes against party rules which mean rank and file state members vote on preselections.
Last week, Mr Camenzuli took the matter to the High Court but ultimately lost when Chief Justice Susan Kiefel rejected his application for hearing.
Back in the Court of Appeal today, Justice John Basten ordered Mr Camenzuli pay the legal costs for four of the defendants — Mr Morrison, Mr Perrottet, Ms McDiven and the current federal Liberal president, John Olsen.
However he doesn't have to pay costs for the three incumbent Liberals named in the lawsuit, Farrer MP Sussan Ley, Mitchell MP Alex Hawke and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman, who were the first to be locked in by the Prime Minister's committee.
Mr Camenzuli also doesn't have to pay the costs of the president of the NSW Liberals, Philip Ruddock, who was listed as a defendant.
In their reasons, the three appeal court judges said costs only applied to the defendants who played an active role in the proceedings.
Today's judgment means the legal costs are stacking up for Mr Camenzuli, who was also ordered to pay costs for his attempted High Court appeal.
NSW Liberal senator Concetta Fierravanti-Wells backed the action, accusing the federal executive of trampling on the rights of branch members to make "captain's picks".
But the Court of Appeal concluded it could not decide whether the federal executive had overstepped as the matter was not "justiciable" and the court had no place in adjudicating internal disputes in political parties.
The day after Mr Camenzuli lost the case, the NSW Liberals expelled him from the party.
The legal battle, which began in February, has been a thorn in the federal government's side as it meant important seats were without Liberal candidates just weeks out from the election.
