NSW Liberal Party: Premier brushes off questions amid Alex Hawke branch meeting tension
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has brushed off questions about a Liberal Party branch members dispute, saying the matters are for the organisation as The Daily Telegraph revealed a barrister is now preparing legal advice for the party.
NSW
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Premier Gladys Berejiklian has brushed off questions about why she hasn’t asked the Liberal party to resolve a dispute over branch members dating back 18 months.
Asked why she hadn’t told the party to sort it out, Ms Berejiklian simply said “because they are matters for the (Liberal Party) organisation”.
The NSW Liberal Party has failed to resolve the dispute involving key Scott Morrison supporter Alex Hawke despite being made aware of the allegations more than 18 months ago.
At the centre of the dispute is a meeting of the party’s Baulkham Hills branch in October 2018, with party members alleging records of the meeting were amended to prevent 10 new members joining the branch.
The Daily Telegraph has been told a barrister is now preparing legal advice for the party as senior party sources push for state director Chris Stone to deal with the issue.
One state executive member said the matter “has been hanging over the party’s head for some time”. “The whole thing stinks and it implicates some serious people.”
Another state executive member said Mr Stone was delaying a ruling “probably because he doesn’t want the s**t fight”.
“It’s a pretty simple ruling, I would have thought. The evidence is overwhelmingly in favour of the fact that (Alex) Hawke … fudged the minutes,” the source said.
A Liberal Party spokesman said the “conflicting versions of events” are still “being investigated”.
The spokesman said the process has been delayed by state and federal elections, and the coronavirus pandemic.
The factional fracas was originally reported by The Daily Telegraph in February of this year.
Mr Hawke, International Development Minister and the Pacific and Assistant Defence Minister, relies on branch support in his electorate of Mitchell. If new members aligned to a rival faction joined the branch, it could have put his support at risk.
The branch supports police minister David Elliott at a state level.
A dispute filed in October 2018 by branch vice president Kieran Walton alleged some of the new members were told their memberships had been rejected. In the complaint he alleged misleading actions including the “amending” of branch meeting records.
In signed statutory declarations seen by The Daily Telegraph, party members said the branch accepted all 10 new memberships.
The push to resolve the dispute comes days after the state government criticised Labor leader Jodi McKay for failing to act on a secret party report into branch stacking in Western Sydney.
It’s believed an independent investigator has been appointed to investigate conflicting versions of events about what happened at the Baulkham Hills branch meeting.
‘No video’: Why NSW branch-stacking allegations different to Victoria’s
Labor frontbencher Chris Bowen says the executive response to branch stacking in NSW allegations was treated differently to cases in Victoria because it was not uncovered through an explosive sting operation on video.
Mr Bowen insisted the stacking at several branches in Western Sydney, exposed by The Daily Telegraph, had been appropriately responded to, despite party officials being much faster to react to a major case in Victoria.
“I think there’s a difference between an expose with things caught on film and an anonymous dossier,” he told ABC insiders.
NSW Labor MP Julia Finn resigned from Jodi McKay’s frontbench amid the party’s internal probe into branch stacking on Friday. Finn denied breaching any rules.
It came three days after The Daily Telegraph exposed details of a secret Labor investigation into a string of branch stacking allegations in western Sydney electorates.
By comparison Victorian Labor MP Adam Somyurek was sacked from the ministry less than 24 hours after his own branch stacking efforts were revealed through secret video and audio recordings.
Mr Bowen said the allegations in NSW were properly examined.
“There was an anonymous dossier prepared about a few branches (in NSW),” he said.
“There was a full inquiry, which has now been reported and made public.
“It’s made a series of recommendations which have either been implemented or are being implemented.
“Julia Finn has stood aside to enable the relevant tribunal to consider her future, her role.”
Mr Bowen said there had already been “big changes” in NSW to prevent branch stacking.
“There have been wholesale changes, both changes to personnel and to approach,” he said.
“In NSW bulk membership renewals are not allowed.
“We have a trip wire so that only a small number of members can be admitted at every meeting.”
Mr Bowen said he believed the response from all levels of the Labor Party had been appropriate.
“As I said, political parties will go through this … what matters is how you respond, and Anthony Albanese and Daniel Andrews have responded very strongly to this, and Bob Danver in NSW has responded very well to the very different set of circumstances,” he said.
Originally published as NSW Liberal Party: Premier brushes off questions amid Alex Hawke branch meeting tension