Liberals in civil war as Alex Hawke accused of alleged record tampering

Members of the Tony Abbott-aligned Right faction of the NSW Liberal party have launched a nuclear attack on the Prime Minister’s key ally Alex Hawke by alleging record tampering at his Baulkham Hills branch.

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Members of the Tony Abbott-aligned Right faction of the NSW Liberal party have launched a nuclear attack on the Prime Minister’s key ally Alex Hawke by alleging record tampering at his Baulkham Hills branch.

The allegations centre on a claim that minutes from an October 8 branch meeting in the heart of Hawke’s northwest Sydney electorate were falsified in order to reject ten new members who had joined that night.

Alex Hawke has been accused of ‘record tampering’. Picture: Sean Davey.

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The complaint to Prime Minister Scott Morrison alleges that Hawke and Baulkham Hills branch president Brendon Jenkins, “have colluded to falsify the minutes submitted to the Liberal Party headquarters for their own political gain”.

Jenkins did not return calls. Hawke was unable to comment.

Seven branch members present at the October 8 meeting at the Allan Drew funeral home in Castle Hill have signed statutory declarations swearing that the ten new members were properly endorsed. Hawke also was present at the meeting.

Peter Dutton and Alex Hawke in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

Branch secretary Jacob Jackson assured branch vice-president by text message after the meeting that “all branch members were accepted that were nominated in the meeting”.

Two weeks after the meeting, new members received a letter from NSW state Liberal Director Chris Stone, dated October 23, saying, “the Secretary of the Baulkham Hills branch has informed the Liberal Campaign Headquarters that your application to join the branch has not been accepted at this time.

A senior Liberal source from the area said: “It is totally misleading to link Alex Hawke into branch matters. Branch disputes don’t directly involve him. For any claim there is always a counter claim.

Tim James lost his preselection battle to Felicity Wilson.

“The real tragedy is that if they [the Right] spent the last 12 months stacking the North Shore they’d have their candidate Tim James up”.

This declaration of factional war comes in the wake of Monday night’s 101-100 defeat of Right candidate and former Howard staffer Tim James in favour of sitting MP, Felicity Wilson, in a preselection for Wilson’s safe seat of North Shore.

Hawke’s centre-right faction voted for Wilson.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian intervened personally to phone preselectors on Monday on behalf of Wilson and is credited with saving the pregnant MP’s endorsement.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian intervened personally to phone preselectors yesterday on behalf of Felicity Wilson

Wilson is a protégé of lobbyist Michael Photios and a member of the NSW Left faction led by Federal MP for North Sydney Trent Zimmerman and NSW Minister for Innovation Matt Kean, the member for Hornsby. She has been under fire over discrepancies in her residential history and academic record.

Also today, conservative Liberal MP Damien Tudehope was endorsed for an upper house seat, after special powers were used by the state executive to overturn a decision by Hawke forces on Friday to reject him, 60-58.