Jim Molan relegated to unwinnable spot on NSW Senate ticket

Retired Army general and Liberal Senator Jim Molan has suffered a devastating blow dropping to what’s considered to be an unwinnable spot on the NSW senate ticket.

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Retired Army general and Liberal Senator Jim Molan has suffered a devastating blow dropping to what’s considered to be an unwinnable spot on the NSW senate ticket.

Bearing the brunt of the party’s factional infight, Senator Molan was today relegated to third spot on the NSW joint ticket for the next election.

Senator Jim Molan was today relegated to third spot on the NSW joint ticket for the next election.

A Tony Abbott loyalist, Senator Molan was backed by the party’s right faction but was unable to fight off a challenge from autism advocate and former Liberal staffer Hollie Hughes who finished first.

Ms Hughes, who served as the NSW Liberals’ country vice president is aligned with special minister of state Alex Hawke, and has support from both the Moderate and Centre-Right factions.

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In a strange twist, Ms Hughes was set to join the Senate last year as a replacement for former Nationals senator Fiona Nash who resigned over dual citizenship.

The High Court ruled Ms Hughes ineligible on the ground that she had an office of profit under the Crown because she sat on the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.

Hollie Hughes. Picture by Sean Davey.

Instead, the senate spot was given to Jim Molan, the following candidate on the ticket.

Former financial services executive Andrew Bragg, a close ally of Malcolm Turnbull, won second spot on the Liberal ticket. In September, Mr Bragg, who is supported by the Liberal moderates in NSW, dropped out of the Wentworth preselection in exchange for a winnable Senate spot.

Sydney surgeon Michael Feneley secured the final spot on the ticket despite only receiving 19 votes in the first round.

The result triggered accusations of skulduggery by the Right with one factional player suggesting the Left may have reneged on a long-standing deal to do a preference swap.

The deal would have resulted in Jim Molan coming in at number one with Andrew Bragg taking the second winnable spot.

“The Right and Left had a long-standing deal that they would do a preference swap, so something has happened,” a Liberal source said.

“We have no idea what happened, but there is no way Hollie Hughes could get that many votes from the Centre Right alone.”

Former financial services executive Andrew Bragg

“The Right are in meltdown.” There were also accusations that about 300 delegates failed to show up for the vote.

“When there are 840 delegates, that is a huge number not to show,” the source said.

The Centre Right, led by Mr Hawke, and the Right have been engaged in a vicious brawl with preselections being used to exert their dominance.

However, the Left denied the deal with the hard Right had fallen over, instead declaring Hughes had won the vote in her own right.

Together with “around 170 Centre Right votes”, Ms Hughes also benefited from “Left turned Centre Right sympathisers” in Liberal members Joe Tannous and Kent Johns who collectively represented about 30 votes.

“The Left had a deal with the hard Right and that remained in place,” the source said.

“The Centre Right simply had the numbers.

“The first victim of Jim Molan’s democratic reforms was Jim Molan.”

Another Left source said the result was a devastating blow to Tony Abbott, whose dwindling NSW parliamentary support base had been whittled down to just Craig Kelly, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells and Angus Taylor.

“This represents the emasculation of the hard right,” the source said.