Former PM Tony Abbott leads charge in Liberal Party reform push

WARRINGAH MP Tony Abbott has personally pushed through a bid to give more Liberal Party members a say in selecting their candidates - known as ‘one member one vote’ preselection.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott leaves after Question Time in the House of Representatives in Canberra last week. Picture: AAP.

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MEMBER for Warringah Tony Abbott has personally pushed through a bid to give more Liberal Party members a say in selecting their candidates.

The former prime minister argued for one vote per party member when determining preselection at his Federal Electorate Conference Annual General Meeting on Tuesday.

The motion was approved 114 votes to six, and means the Liberal Party’s State Council will have to vote on whether it should become NSW-wide policy.

NSW and Western Australia are the only states that do not host plebiscites for preselection of federal, state and local seats.

In Warringah, about 100 people vote for their candidate. The proposed change would mean all 700 party members have a say.

Warringah Federal Electorate Conference president Walter Villatora has led the push on one voter per member policy. Picture: Troy Snook.

In the senate, 146 people preselect NSW candidates but, if the move is successful, all 8000 Liberal Party members would vote.

More than 1000 people, including Premier Mike Baird and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, will vote at the State Council meeting on October 22.

Mr Abbott told the Manly Daily he had “long supported ‘one member one vote’ preselections”. “Let’s hope the Warringah resolution is now fully considered at State Council,” he said.

Mr Abbott spoke for five minutes in support of the motion, before listening to arguments for and against, then replying to critics for another five minutes.

The Warringah FEC president Walter Villatora led the charge on what he calls “democratisation of the Liberal Party”.

He declined to comment, but on the night he told the meeting the reforms were needed because: “We are losing members like flies.”

He told conference members that Liberal Party numbers had declined from 50,000 at the turn of the century to just 8000 — for which he blamed powerbrokers.