Good morning. It looks likely that a federal election will be called by the end of the week after the NSW court of appeal on Tuesday confirmed Scott Morrison’s preferred candidates were valid.
The prime minister, Scott Morrison, says he pursued his contentious captain’s picks – sparking a destructive internal Liberal party brawl culminating in election-eve legal challenges – because he wanted to stand up “for the women in my team”. Morrison told the ABC he intervened in the process because “I’m asked all the time why won’t the prime minister do more about getting good women in parliament and stand up for the women in parliament”. Conservative stalwart Concetta Fierravanti-Wells dismissed Morrison’s suggestion he was protecting women. “Morrison is simply using the ‘gender card’ to conflate captain’s picks to trash democratic processes in NSW,” she told 7.30 in a statement.
