Red faces as Lib candidate ’dossier’ posted online reveals personal details

Personal details such as the relationship status and home addresses of Liberal Party representatives and candidates have been made available online on leaked nomination forms.

A “dossier” of candidate nomination forms containing personal information such as relationship status about a federal MP and local council candidates has been accessed online.

The forms had been uploaded to a website only meant to be accessed by party preselectors, but were today stumbled upon by political operatives.

A link to the file – which is called “The Hills Shire Council Candidate Dossiers” – and includes candidate’s private addresses and phone numbers, was sent to The Daily Telegraph.

Among the candidate forms contained in the dossier include that of Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher, which includes a boast about how he made it to the second round in the seat of Cook in 2007, only to be beaten by Scott Morrison.

Mr Fletcher, who faced and won preselection earlier this year, also included three references, including one from Peter Dutton who described him “a friend”.

Addressed to the then NSW Liberal Party state director Chris Stone, Mr Dutton said he was “pleased to provide” the reference for his “friend and colleague” Paul Fletcher.

Paul Fletcher, Michelle Byrne, Peter Gangemi.

“In the challenging 2022 election when many valued colleagues lost their seats to extremely well-funded Teal challengers, Paul fought hard and successfully retained the seat of Bradfield for the Liberal Party,” Mr Dutton wrote.

The dossier also contains the candidate nomination forms of 16 local government candidates, including that of Liberal Hills Shire Councillor Michelle Byrne.

Dated May 27 this year, Ms Byrne’s form reveals when her relationship “start date” and when she was married.

The membership number of the Supreme Court solicitor is also revealed, and her three references which include one from federal MP Alex Hawke.

Asked whether the forms should be able to be accessed online, Ms Byrne said: “No”.

Other forms in the dossier — which all contain similar information — include those of Hills Shire mayor Dr Peter Gangemi, Jessica Brazier, Samuel Uno, Alan Haselden, Brooke Collins, Mitchell Blue, Trent Richmond, Jacob Jackson, Pratibha Bhanushali, Jagmohan Dhaliwal, Reena Jethi, Jerome Cox, Manjula Viswanath.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s reference for Paul Fletcher appeared online. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The forms do not include the pages with questions relating to visits to strip clubs and drug addictions, which are restricted to the party’s nomination review committee members.

However, candidates are asked why they joined the Liberal Party, previous political party involvement and property developer interests.

Asked why they had signed up to the party, one candidate wrote: “I was concerned about the direction of the country after the defeat of John Howard”.

Two senior former Liberal ministers told The Daily Telegraph the candidate nomination forms should not have been able to be accessed by anyone other than party preselectors.

Alex Hawke was one of Michelle Byrnes’ referees. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

“There is no way candidates would have put down their private addresses if they knew the public would be able to see them,” one of the Liberal sources said.

“This is absolutely a privacy breach.”

Another former Liberal minister said it was “slightly embarrassing”, but noted how the forms were available to “about 400 party preselectors”.

Asked about the matter, a NSW Liberal Party spokesman said: “The Party uses technology, as is common practice among organisations in many industries, to make our selections accessible and more democratic; this includes electronic voting and providing notice of meeting and candidate materials electronically.”

As of this morning, Mr Fletcher’s form had been taken down. However, the remainder of the “dossier” was still able to be accessed. `

Originally published as Red faces as Lib candidate ’dossier’ posted online reveals personal details