The Sauce: Premier looks to pull Liberals out of local government
Furious Libs are predicting ‘World War III’ if a proposal not to endorse candidates for local elections goes ahead. PLUS: Why was Labor leader Jodi McKay in hot water this week?
NSW
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Liberal Party members are in meltdown over a drastic proposal by Premier Gladys Berejiklian to not endorse any Liberal candidates at the next local government elections.
The Saturday Telegraph revealed the NSW Liberal Party is considering a proposal to remove the party brand from council amid concerns over probity.
The move, backed by the Premier, was dropped on surprised members of the NSW State Executive hours before its Friday night meeting. As word got out, members began hitting the phones to each other, and The Sauce, in disbelief.
Among their concerns is that without the use of its brand, the party would struggle to get up as many councillors.
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As a result, the field of state and federal elections candidates — who are often drawn from local government, especially in marginal seats — would diminish.
There has been ongoing speculation about a NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption investigation in to various councils. Either way, it’s clear the Premier has concerns at the goings-on at the council level.
However, one senior Liberal councillor estimated “at least” a dozen sitting MPs would be placed at risk should the proposal get up because some MPs relied almost solely on their local councillors to secure numbers at the branches for their preselections.
“It would be WWIII,” the Sydney-based councillor said.
One senior party source said the move was a “pre-emptive strike” before any adverse findings were released.
Several Liberal sources yesterday claimed the Premier was concerned about the lack of oversight the party had in relation to direct donations to candidates.
The move to strip councils of the party brand followed discussions with the NSW Electoral Commission which had ended up in a stalemate.
Another senior Liberal said the premier was making an “ambit claim” but would more than likely agree to a compromise, such as having head office rather than local branches choose the candidates.
“I think she will compromise,” the source said.
“There are MPs that are furious at this, saying it will help elect Labor mayors. I think it will end up that the state executive will choose.”
The NSW State Executive has deferred the matter until next month.
TAKE IT DOWN
It hasn’t been a great week for Labor leader Jodi McKay.
After the highly-anticipated no-confidence motion in Treasurer Dominic Perrottet failed to get up, McKay was also forced to pull down prerecorded videos of herself slamming the Berejiklian government.
The videos, posted to Facebook and Twitter to coincide with the recall of the Upper House, showed McKay standing alone in the Lower House chamber.
The post read: “Democracy demands that Gladys Berejiklian answer questions on Dominic Perrottet’s iCare scandal, the ferries fiasco and the Ruby Princess and Bushfire inquiry reports.”
A few days later, the videos vanished.
It can be revealed Lower House Speaker Jonathan O’Dea wrote to McKay’s office, declaring the filming to have been in breach of the parliamentary rules.
While McKay’s camp argued the rules relate to the filming of “proceedings”, and that their boss was videoed in an empty chamber, they took the posts down “out of respect” for the Speaker, a Labor source said.
WHO’S LEAKING?
Tensions have escalated between Labor Senator Deborah O’Neill and Opposition home affairs spokeswoman Kristina Keneally.
After The Sauce published an item about O’Neill’s taxpayer-funded trips to Tassie (all of which her office justified), the Central Coast Senator is understood to have launched into her Labor senator mate.
The exchange, revealed on Sky News, suggested Keneally had asked O’Neill how she was doing, only for the Central Coast MP to reply: “It would be better if someone from my own side was not leaking on me.”
When Keneally replied that she had “no idea” who had been leaking against her Senate colleague, O’Neill is claimed to have stated either: “You keep sticking to that line” or “no one believes you any more Kristina”.
This won’t be the end of it.
GREEN WEDGE
Police Minister David Elliott was rather joyous last week after Ballina Green Tamara Smith “invited me up to her electorate to visit Byron Bay police station where she is asking for investment in new facilities for our boys in blue”.
Elliott, whom we hear has been skipping around parliament, has taken up the invitation.
“I am pleased to hear that the Greens want more money for police,” he said.
Got some Sauce? Contact linda.silmalis@news.com.au or annika.smethurst@news.com.au
Originally published as The Sauce: Premier looks to pull Liberals out of local government