Liberal Party wooing former premier Gladys Berejiklian to run in 2025

Following last week’s resounding defeat in the polls, the Liberal Party is formulating a plan to convince popular former premier Gladys Berejiklian to run in 2025.

Gladys Berejiklian knocked back an approach from the former prime minister to run for Warringah, and her new job gagged her from campaigning despite pleas from the party, but NSW Liberals are already hoping to woo the former premier back into the political scene in three years.

Amid party soul-searching into what went wrong at last week’s federal election, multiple Liberal sources told The Daily Telegraph that they hoped Ms Berejiklian could be convinced to run for the next poll, in 2025.

The next election is still three years away, but Ms Berejiklian is already seen as the best possible candidate to win back the federal seat of North Sydney.

The former premier is still awaiting findings of a corruption probe into whether she breached public trust or encouraged corrupt conduct during her secret relationship with disgraced former MP Daryl Maguire.

Ms Berejiklian denies wrongdoing, and the Independent Commission Against Corruption has not delivered its findings. But there is a view among Liberals that Ms Berejiklian’s public image would survive even if the ICAC delivers an adverse finding against her.

ICAC is yet to release its findings into Gladys Berejiklian, but the Liberals want her back. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

It comes after the party launched an internal review to examine the “long term challenge” of popular independents winning seats off Liberal MPs.

In NSW, the party’s moderate faction was decimated after Dave Sharma, Trent Zimmerman, and Jason Falinski lost their seats to Climate 200-backed candidates.

Scott Morrison’s election loss has left the Liberals rattled. Picture: Getty Images

While not prepared to speak publicly, one Liberal said that without holding seats like Wentworth, North Sydney, and Mackellar, it would be “almost impossible” to form government.

“It’s vital that we try and get these seats back.”

Ms Berejiklian would be “an ideal person to restore moderates in Canberra,” the source said.

However Senator Andrew Bragg, who has already delivered a 10-point plan for how the Liberal Party should rebuild before the next election, said it was too early to be considering Ms Berejiklian for federal parliament in three years.

“If the question is ‘do I think she would be a good member of parliament’ the answer is yes, but I don’t think a week after the election is the right time to be canvassing candidates to run in three years’ time,” Mr Bragg said.

One Liberal noted that when Ms Berejiklian declined a tilt at Warringah in December last year, she did not rule out ever returning to politics.

“It’s not something that I would consider for a very, very, very long time,” she told 2GB.