Gross incompetence and factional dealing led to NSW Liberals’ catastrophic botched ballot failure

Meeting the fixed deadline for nominations for upcoming local government elections to be lodged should have been a simple task. The NSW Liberal Party botched it. Many are asking: “how?”

ANALYSIS

Gross incompetence and factional manoeuverings led to what Liberal leader Mark Speakman described as “probably the worst act of mismanagement” in the party organisation’s history.

A decision by the Liberal Party to endorse more candidates than at the previous council election immediately added to the workload of stretched back office staff.

Four years ago, the Liberals decided to remove the brand from some councils amid concerns it would be tarnished by the corruption claims that were being made at the time.

This year, it was decided that Liberal-branded councillors could run in those council areas, resulting in a swath of nominations from the council areas such as Parramatta, Cumberland and Bayside.

When there is just one application, this is forwarded to the party for vetting – including criminal background checks – and endorsement by the state executive.

WHEELING AND DEALING

But where there are multiple prospective candidates, a formal preselection process occurs – and not unlike at a State or Federal level – the timeline can be beholden to factional wheeling and dealing as they negotiate to sort out their preferred candidates.

This has been blamed for the delay in selection candidates for The Hills Shire Council, where a preselection was only held a week ago.

NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman. Picture: NewsWire / Nikki Short

The preselection involved more than 100 prospective candidates – each of whom needed to go through a formal vetting process.

The Daily Telegraph has been told 10 Liberal Party staff worked overtime just to tick the relevant boxes for this one council.

The other issue has been the party’s state executive itself – a party decision-making body that has for the past decade been at war with itself – but which is responsible for endorsing candidates.

One Liberal source blamed executive members for “running interference” on candidate endorsements to try to “swing the outcome”.

DEALS DONE

A state executive member told The Daily Telegraph that deals done to install former Liberal minister Matt Kean’s pick of James Wallace in the seat of Hornsby two weeks ago led to further delays as they were seen through.

“Half of the non-local preselectors for the Hornsby preselection ended up becoming endorsed candidates across different Sydney councils,” the source said.

“There have been deals, trade-offs, you name it, but a factional deal doesn’t mean much if the party leadership is too incompetent to put the form in.”

The delays in candidate endorsements further narrowed the window in which the party office could upload the individual candidate forms – and tickets – onto the Commission’s candidate portal.

Richard Shields. Picture: John Appleyard

Don Harwin. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Swift

The Daily Telegraph has been told a staggering 249 candidates were endorsed in 31 council areas just seven days before the close of nominations at noon on Wednesday.

“Each of those had to be vetted and checked they had JP signatures,” a Liberal source said.

“One bloke worked 72 hours straight. It was crazy.”

The candidates were among 440 endorsed in total – up from 318 at the last local government election.

Another Liberal source said endorsed candidates were receiving emails from the party to fill out their forms at 11pm on Tuesday night.

WHO IS TO BLAME?

As for who is to blame, most members say the fault still lies with the party’s top officials: now-sacked Liberal Party State director Richard Shields and Party president Don Harwin.

The factional manoeuvring has always taken place – and never stopped former state director Chris Stone from missing a deadline.

Mr Shields had faced criticism for being a “part time” director given he has continued to serve as mayor of Woollahra. He blamed limited resources for the failure.

Mr Shields’ supporters say his biggest mistake was giving too much control to Mr Harwin to oversee the nomination process.

On Thursday afternoon, Mr Harwin convened a meeting of the state executive on Thursday night.

Ahead of that meeting, Mr Shields refused to resign. laying the blame at the feet of Mr Harwin

As one Liberal executive member said: “Harwin and Richard can go quietly, or we’ll blow them out of the water.”

Late on Thursday night, Mr Shields was sacked during late-night crisis meetings.

In a statement, Mr Harwin said Mr Shields had been given the opportunity to explain the circumstances to the state executive, but had failed to do so.

“This failure to meet such a fundamental responsibility has rendered his position untenable,” Mr Harwin said.

“As a result, the State Executive has unanimously resolved to terminate the State Director’s employment with immediate effect.”

Originally published as Gross incompetence and factional dealing led to NSW Liberals’ catastrophic botched ballot failure