The Sauce: Rigorous Liberal Party candidate vetting for Scott Morrison’s seat

Liberal Party candidates vying for preselection for Scott Morrison’s seat are being asked a lengthy list of questions about their sex lives and finances — but nothing about embarrassing incidents at McDonald’s restaurants, The Sauce reports.

Veterans’ advocate Gwen Cherne is believed to be the frontrunner to win Liberal Party preselection for Scott Morrison’s seat. Picture: Richard Dobson

The battle for Scott Morrison’s old seat of Cook is under way, with five prospective Liberal Party candidates preparing to be interrogated about their financial and sex lives as part of a rigorous “vetting” process.

Designed to save the party — and themselves — from potential embarrassment later on, candidates must answer questions ranging from the state of their finances to whether they have visited a brothel.

Curiously, the recently updated federal Liberal Party Nomination for Selection form — obtained by The Sauce — does not include any questions about any little accidents in Maccas south of Sydney.

Prospective candidates must not only declare their marital status, but also any separations and divorces, including the names of former partners, when the relationship began and ended, the status of the relationship and “what circumstances caused the relationship(s) to end”.

Gambling debts must also be disclosed, as well as whether a collection agency has ever knocked on the door.

Social media posts are also scrutinised, with wannabe candidates having to detail all the platforms on which they have ever opened an account, while detailing any online dating activities on Tinder, Bumble and eHarmony.

The form warns candidates that the “party may follow/befriend your social media profiles and/or blogs”, and that they “must” approve such requests and ensure that “unrestricted view is enabled”.

Former PM Scott Morrison will leave parliament at the end of February. Picture: Martin Ollman

Prospective candidates must also describe any comments they may have made that “could be considered by an average lay person to be” extreme or offensive in nature, critical of Liberals or damaging to the division.

Past or present addiction to illegal or prescription drugs and alcohol must be disclosed, as well as criminal records held, and charges laid, including traffic offences and loss of a driver’s licence.

If candidates had not ruled themselves out by this stage, the next batch of questions goes even deeper, with inquiries about AVOs, stalking incidents, and paid sex.

“Have you had any sexual encounters or relations, or visited a sex shop or premises involving strippers, which if they became public, would adversely impact on your candidature?” one question asks,

The vetting process is expected take place between February 7-14, with those on the panel expected to include party president Jason Falinski, NSW Liberal Party state director Richard Shields and Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s rep Angus Taylor.

Sutherland Mayor Carmelo Pesce — who is understood to have a reference from NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman — and the right-backed Simon Kennedy, who previously ran for Bennelong, are the key challengers, however both are the victims of a smear campaign under way.

Veterans’ advocate Gwen Cherne is also a candidate, and deemed the next most likely to win a preselection with banker Alex Cooke and Ben Britton also in the mix.

A preselection is expected to occur later this month.

MP MELTDOWN

NSW pollies have been receiving a curated summary of the news of the day for years, with an email containing a copy of the front page of every major newspaper landing in their inboxes at 2am each morning.

Two hours later, a second email would be sent, detailing the main news events and reactions from the various stakeholders.

At 6am — when most MPs were waking — a list of what the radios covered overnight would arrived followed by summaries of the talk shows later in the morning.

The news summaries — provided via a media monitoring company called Meltwater — enabled politicians to have a sense of what the key issues of the day were likely to be, and helped them decide on whether to contribute.

Nationals member Wes Fang was unimpressed when news summaries stopped appearing in his inbox. Picture: James Gourley

So when the emails stopped on the last day of November last year, there was understandable outrage.

Among those to fire off an angry email to the Minns government was Nationals firebrand Wes Fang, who sent the equivalent of a WTF in his bid to get to the bottom of the matter.

Fang said despite the former Coalition government ensuring Labor and crossbench MPs had access to the media summaries, the Minns government had not extended the same courtesy in return.

“My colleague Hon Sarah Mitchell MLC, advises that media summaries had been

provided across the entire parliament, for her 13 years as an MP,” Fang wrote.

Several angry email exchanges later, Mr Fang received correspondence from his colleague — Upper House Deputy Opposition Whip Ben Franklin — who wrote that the media summaries had been provided by Meltwater and had only ended due to the change of contract.

“Neither I, nor my office had any prior warning of this decision and I can

confirm that neither I nor anyone in my office are currently receiving the … media

summaries,” Franklin wrote, adding how “challenging” it had been without them.

He said the parliamentary library team was in talks with the new “media intelligence” provider Isentia for a curated product that “matches the quality and usability of the previous Meltwater product”.

Phew.

ONE JOB

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is determined not to make the same mistakes as his predecessors who presided over eleventh-hour candidates being selected, and has been cracking the whip to have preselections sorted ASAP.

However, it appears his own faction has been thwarting the process.

According to one NSW Liberal source, candidates who have already been preselected may have to go through the entire process again after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) releases new electoral boundaries.

This is because Dutton’s own right-wing faction blocked a move to ensure the existing candidates could remain in their seats if the changes to boundaries are only minor.

It is understood the right wanted stricter rules in place for re-endorsement, amid fears the moderates would somehow exploit the process.

With the re-endorsement vote shot down at a recent party meeting, some of the preselections may well have to be done again.

The party has one job right?

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Originally published as The Sauce: Rigorous Liberal Party candidate vetting for Scott Morrison’s seat