Tony Abbott to be endorsed as Liberal candidate for Warringah

FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Warringah heading into the next Federal election.

Former prime minister Tony Abbott at a Coalition party room meeting this week. Picture: Mick Tsikas

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FORMER Prime Minister Tony Abbott will be endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Warringah heading into the next Federal election.

The incumbent member for the seat on Sydney’s northern beaches will have a formal endorsement meeting on Friday night at Balgowlah RSL, but does not have a challenger.

After the endorsement, an annual general meeting for Mr Abbott’s electoral conference will be held, where long-standing president and campaign manager Walter Villatora is expected to step down.

Roger Corbett pictured speaking in Melbourne. Picture: Stuart McEvoy.

In his place, former Woolworths chief executive officer and chairman of Australian Leisure and Hospitality Group chairman Roger Corbett is expected to become the new president.

The likely appointment of Mr Corbett, has caught the ire of the Alliance for Gambling Reform which called on Mr Abbott and the NSW Liberal Party to withdraw his nomination.

Alliance spokesman and director Tim Costello called on Mr Corbett to withdraw his planned nomination for President of the Warringah FEC unless he first commits to resign as chairman of ALH Group, Australia’s largest operator of addictive poker machines.

Spokesman for the Alliance for Gambling Reform, Tim Costello has criticised the potential endorsement of Corbett. Picture: Keryn Stevens.

“The Liberals wouldn’t accept the chairman of Australia’s biggest tobacco company for a position like this and nor should they tolerate the chairman of the world’s biggest operator of poker machines in pubs given the enormous social damage this wreaks on society,” Mr Costello said.

ALH operates more than 12,000 poker machines which will extract almost $1.5

billion of the world record $15 billion that will be lost on pokies in Australia this

year, according to the Alliance.