NSW Liberals expel senior members, refer themselves to election watchdog after branch-stacking inquiry

The Liberal party investigation found serious issues in a number of local government areas, including in Sydney’s west and south. Photograph: Alan Porritt/AAP

The New South Wales branch of the Liberal party has referred itself to the state’s election watchdog and is expelling about a half a dozen senior party members following an internal investigation into an allegedly “elaborate and complex” branch-stacking system.

The alleged branch-stacking operation is understood to have included more than 100 members, and involved people being signed up to the party and given fake email addresses in a process that may have been used to influence key votes on policy and preselections.