The WA Liberal Party has pledged to change in the wake of the party's disastrous federal poll results that followed years of poor performance at the state level.
Among the changes announced was reform to the preselection process for candidates, which comes after a leaked review of the party's membership records in WA that revealed apparent branch stacking and manipulation.
The report identified multiple party memberships being paid for using a single credit card as a widespread issue, with 29 credit cards on file funding more than 10 memberships each.
In one instance, a single card was used for 66 transactions.
WA Liberal Party president Richard Wilson said the proposed changes would help address the issues raised in the review by putting the control in the hands of many instead of just a few.
Reforms hoped to make the party more 'modern'
The pledge to change came after a closed door State Council meeting, the party's first since the federal election that saw significant swings away from the Liberals in what had traditionally been blue-ribbon heartland.
And it is no better at a state level — in fact, it is much worse — with the Liberals barely existing.
The party held on to just two lower house seats in the 2021 election, forcing them to hand leadership of the opposition to the Nationals.
Given these poor performances at the polls at both the state and federal level, the Liberals appear motivated to demonstrate change was possible.
"We need to demonstrate to the Australian public that we are a party that is modern and that we can reform ourselves and make ourselves more electable in the future," federal shadow defence minister Andrew Hastie said following the meeting on Saturday.
WA Liberal Party leader David Honey said he hoped the reforms would not only send a message to members, but to all West Australians.
"We have to have the affairs of the party in good order and the community has to see that the party is managing itself well," Dr Honey said.
Reform not only issue on the agenda
It understood the party's state executive also indicated their intention to raise a complaint about Perth property developer, Nigel Satterley.
The Liberal member has been a vocal critic of the party's direction and the perceived influence of religious conservatives.
In a tweet posted last month, Mr Satterley was scathing of the party's recent poor performances, again pointing towards issues with 'The Clan' — an informal group of conservatives, including former federal finance minister and WA MP Matthias Cormann, upper house MPs Peter Collier and Nick Goiran, and Ian Goodenough, who narrowly retained his seat of Moore.
In his Tweet, Mr Satterley said, "If the party decides to expel me I will wear it as a badge of honour for someone who, like other well respected liberal members, believes in the core ideals and values of the Liberals that we believe are no longer being represented by powerful interests unwilling to face the current negative trajectory they have created for the party."
WA Premier Mark McGowan condemned the discord within the Liberals.
"They're so heavily factionalised, so outside the mainstream now, they're not really fit for government," he said.
The proposed reforms are set to be debated at the Liberal party's state conference next month.
