Liberals pins election washout on botched preselections
As the devastating loss over the weekend sinks in for Liberal party faithful, the party’s gender woes are coming back to bite. Here’s what senior Liberals say went wrong.
State Election
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A PARTY made up of men in the North Shore has failed to capture voters in Sydney’s west according to senior Liberals who say rookie candidates were handed a “noose” ahead of the battle for a fourth term.
The Liberal brand was battered for its lack of gender and cultural diversity during Scott Morrison’s disastrous federal election campaign before suffering another blow when NSW Liberals repeatedly failed to preselect women.
“We need more females, more diversity, plain and simple. It’s a North Shore party and now it’s under attack by the Teals. We put people in Western Sydney a second to midnight,” a senior source said.
Devastated Liberals said the party had failed to learn from the federal election and preselection in key seats were in shambles leaving new candidates with mere weeks to replace retiring party stalwarts like Victor Dominello, Rob Stokes, Brad Hazzard and Geoff Lee.
In almost all instances, the candidates were replaced by men -- who were controversially preselected over women.
A party spokesman said that the Liberals suffered average swings of about 12 per cent against them in seats where the incumbent was retiring.
Fears became evident days out from the polls when former Prime Minister Scott Morrison was seen on the hustings in Miranda, a formerly safe seat held by dumped Minister Eleni Petinos, in a last ditch attempt to save Ms Petinos.
But on Sunday Miranda was also on track to turn red with sources fearing Mr Perrottet was also thwarted by a “ScoMo hangover” despite a soaring personal brand.
Sources said Mr Perrottet was well liked in key seats but voters did not connect new candidates with the former Premier.
Retiring Mr Stokes was replaced by Rory Amon after a bitter preselection battle saw him win over senior Minister Natalie Ward.
Mr Stokes’ once healthy margin has all but been wiped out by Teal independent Jacqui Scruby.
In Riverstone, retiring Kevin Connolly was replaced by Mohit Kumar -- controversially selected over popular female candidate Reena Jethi.
“The number one issue by a mile is candidate selection... We did not learn our lesson,” a senior Liberal source said.
“It was almost criminal to see what took place at our election and to repeat it again within a year. These people (new candidates) need all the help they can get, and they were given a noose.”
The disastrous performance has prompted scathing comments from party elders with Mike Baird saying Mr Perrottet was fighting an election with his hands tied behind his back.
Another Liberal MP said Mr Perrottet could not have “campaigned any harder” but the party was let down by poor preselections and the collective baggage of 12 years in power.
“There needs to be consideration given to some sort of trigger in the (party’s) constitution that says a preselection must occur no later than X amount of months. We should work back six to eight months at a minimum. When you get to the end of January and you still don’t have a candidate for Wakehurst, it’s a problem,” the MP said.
The party’s moderate faction was planning to meet on Sunday night with leadership up for discussion.
Outgoing Attorney General Mark Speakman, Trade Minister Alister Henskens and Environment Minister James Griffin were being considered for leadership.
Fears remain rife for Adam Crouch in Terrigal and Mark Coure in Oatley -- two MPs colleagues described as “MPs who work around the clock, every day of the four years”.
“I can’t fathom how we lost Terrigal. What a loss. Adam is a heart and soul MP,” a source said.
While Terrigal was all but certainly turning red, insiders believed Mr Coure could pull through after finishing Saturday slightly ahead of Labor’s Ash Ambihaipahar.
The disastrous performance has prompted scathing comments from party elders with Mike Baird saying Mr Perrottet was fighting an election with his hands tied behind his back.
Another Liberal MP said Mr Perrottet could not have “campaigned any harder” but the party was let down by poor preselections and the collective baggage of 12 years in power.
On Sunday, Mr Perrottet said he was proud of the team he led after finishing up a morning jog with retiring colleague and running buddy Rob Stokes.
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