One of the federal Liberal Party's most senior moderate members has called on a party vice-president to resign, after she celebrated the demise of more progressive Liberal candidates at the May election.
Teena McQueen, who was re-elected unopposed as Liberal vice-president last year, appeared at the CPAC Australia conservative political conference in Sydney at the weekend.
While appearing on stage discussing the future of the party, she said: "The good thing about the last federal election is a lot of those lefties are gone — we should rejoice in that".
"People I have been trying to get rid of for a decade have gone, so we need to renew with good conservative candidates," Ms McQueen said.
The comments have angered Simon Birmingham, the leader of the opposition in the Senate and shadow foreign minister.
This morning, he was asked on ABC RN Breakfast whether Ms McQueen should resign.
"Yes, that would be a far better thing for her to do," he said.
"If she doesn't want to support endorsed Liberal candidates, sitting Liberal MPs, then she shouldn't be sitting around the federal executive table of the Liberal Party.
"I think she should reflect upon her position and that her position is untenable."
The Liberal Party lost a swathe of electorates at the last election to Labor, the Greens and independent candidates — moderate MPs such as Trent Zimmerman, Dave Sharma, Jason Falinski, Katie Allen, Tim Wilson and Trevor Evans were turfed out of parliament as a result.
The moderate Liberal losses were widely seen as a punishment for perceived inaction on climate change and integrity and transparency in government.
"The problem though that Tina has shown is, of course, that she talks too widely about these sorts of views and obviously isn't willing to support the 'broad church' approach that, as John Howard has emphasised time and time, again, is what has made the Liberal Party so successful over the years," Senator Birmingham said.
"I certainly won't be supporting her re-election if she contests the position again."
