Senior New South Wales Liberal party figures were left blind-sided by the shock nomination of dumped Holsworthy MP Melanie Gibbons for the seat of Kiama, which followed months of preselection delays caused by local branch members seeking to avoid fielding a candidate against the former Coalition minister Gareth Ward.
Gibbons caught senior Liberal operatives by surprise on Tuesday night when she became the party’s only candidate to nominate in the southern NSW seat just hours before the candidate deadline.
