NSW Liberals consider US-style primaries plan to ‘rebuild’ grassroots political movement and select more women
With Liberal members in open warfare over gender quotas, an alternative option to increase “diversity”, by using a similar model to the USA to select party candidates is gaining support.
NSW
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Liberal candidates in battleground seats could be chosen by the general public via US-style “primaries” under a radical plan to rebuild the party’s grassroots support.
The Daily Telegraph can reveal that a push for candidates to be selected by open primaries is gaining traction within the NSW Liberal Party’s senior ranks, particularly as a way to win back electorates lost to the Teals.
Under the primaries system, local voters would be given a say in selecting Liberal candidates even if they are not paid up Liberal Party members.
The plan is being championed by the Opposition’s legal affairs spokesman Julian Leeser, who said primaries would help the Liberal Party increase “diversity” and “overcome the challenge of a declining membership and supporter base”.
“The best way to ensure that our members reflect the communities that they represent is to have the largest number of members of the general community choose them,” Mr Leeser told the Telegraph.
The NSW Liberals were thrown into disarray following the drubbing at the federal election, with party members now in open warfare about how to rebuild the party from the ground up.
Mr Leeser, who scraped back into parliament after fending off Teal candidate Tina Brown, said opening preselection to the broader community would help the party build a larger support base and raise extra funds.
He said would also “demonstrate to the general public that we are a broad, open welcoming party that is seeking the best talent available”.
Mr Leeser has been advocating for US-style primaries for more than 15 years, and has previously been backed by then-Premier Dominic Perrottet, However, it is only now that the idea is gaining traction with party leaders.
Opposition Defence spokesman Angus Taylor on Monday backed primaries as a way to “rebuild a grassroots movement”.
“One pathway to do that would be by bringing in primaries,” he told the Telegraph.
“The objective here has to be to rebuild the grassroots political movement that stands for our values, and to do that we’re going to have to involve and engage people in ways we haven’t before.”
Mr Taylor’s NSW Right faction colleague Anthony Roberts also backed primaries as a way to prevent factional bosses parachuting candidates into preferred seats.
“The days of captain’s picks have got to be over, they are proven not to work.”
A senior member of the NSW Left faction said the party should launch a “trial” to see if primaries work, starting with “in a teal seat, a regional seat and a western Sydney seat”.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has previously indicated she is open to pursuing the US-style primary model, but declined to comment when contacted.
The push for primaries comes amid a civil war over whether the Liberals should impose gender quotas to get more women elected into parliament.
Senior party members are now at war over the issue, with leaked WhatsApp messages revealing a deep rift between those in favour of “quotas” and those prioritising “merit”.
Ms Ley raised Mr Leeser’s push for a primary model last month when discussing how to get more Liberal women elected to parliament.
“There are a lot of different ideas.
“And as I said, I’m agnostic about how we get there, but I am a complete zealot that we do get there,” she said.
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