The warring New South Wales Liberal factions have taken time out from actively trying to solve their preselection woes to try to lower the temperature in the fractured party following the leaking of text messages critical of the prime minister.
With Scott Morrison’s threat of a federal intervention now public, the factions are expected to regroup over the weekend ahead of a last-ditch attempt to finalise who will be endorsed in eight winnable federal lower house seats and the third Senate spot.
“We need some alternative thinking,” one factional organiser told Guardian Australia.
The NSW president, Philip Ruddock, wants the factions to come up with a negotiated solution. “A champion team always beats a team of champions,” he said while refusing to speculate how the impasse could be resolved.
Liberal party rules require 90% support from the 27-strong state executive. This requires all three factions to agree – and for the factions to in turn get their own members to toe the line.
The right has championed plebiscites which give branch members a greater say in preselections – and some feel very strongly democracy must be honoured.
A limited midweek resolution to automatically endorse the current ministers Sussan Ley in Farrer and Alex Hawke in Mitchell, and the sitting MP Trent Zimmerman in North Sydney, failed.
It was defeated 16-7 by a combination of the left and right factions who wanted to preserve their bargaining position on the remaining seats.
Zimmerman, appearing on ABC TV on Thursday afternoon, stated the obvious – that the clock was ticking ahead of the federal election expected in May.
“I really don’t want to talk about the internals of the NSW division to any great extent,” he said. “But what I’d say is it is obviously important that we do have candidates in the field as quickly as possible. I’m sure a lot of work has been done to achieve that outcome.”
Zimmerman would not speculate on who leaked damaging texts allegedly sent between the former NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian and an unnamed federal cabinet minister. In the testy exchange, Morrison was referred to as “a horrible, horrible person” and a “complete psycho”.
“I think it does become a bit of a political parlour game,” the North Sydney MP said. “People will speculate but I suspect [Network Ten journalist] Peter van Onselen will keep his source to himself and we’ll never know the truth of where this has emerged from or the context in which it happened.”
Moderate sources suggested the faction was ready to support a compromise deal that would see Ley, the environment minister, Hawke, the immigration minister, and Zimmermann protected from any challenge with preselection ballots in all other seats except Hughes.
But other moderate sources said it was a work in progress with Hughes and Dobell still under discussion.
Of particular concern to some members of the executive is a plan to parachute Young Liberal Alex Dore, from Manly, into the southern Sydney seat of Hughes, held by the maverick rightwinger Craig Kelly who quit the party to become an independent.
The lack of local input into choosing candidates – Kelly was also parachuted in – has deeply angered southern Sydney-based Liberals from all factions.
The seat is under threat from the independent movement campaigning partly on a platform that Hughes needs local representation in line with the electorate’s values.
One senior right figure said Dore as the pick for Hughes was a “non-negotiable” within any deal.
Dore was originally from the moderates but is the nephew of Chris Dore, the editor-in -chief of the Australian newspaper. He is close to the former rightwing broadcaster Alan Jones, who loomed large over NSW politics for 30 years.
The other seat that remains controversial is Dobell, with Morrison supporting Jemima Gleeson, a Pentecostal preacher, for the seat and the right backing Dr Michael Feneley, a cardiologist who has previously run in Kingsford Smith. There have been persistent rumours but no official confirmation that Gleeson is no longer running.
If Hawke’s centre-right faction supported the compromise deal, the state executive could potentially achieve the 90% majority needed to override plebiscites in certain seats by using special powers.
Under these provisions, the NSW state executive can override preselection processes if it deems it “imperative to campaign effectively for an imminent election”.
If factional powerbrokers cannot agree to the deal, then two options remain: the “nuclear option” of federal intervention, which is unpopular and would be open to legal challenge, or allowing preselections to happen in all seats, which would see Ley sacrificed.
