Warringah Liberals to dissect Federal Election defeat in first post-Abbott meeting

Liberal Party members in Warringah are predicting a ‘purge’ at the first Federal Electoral Conference meeting since Tony Abbott was unseated by Zali Steggall at last month’s election.

Tony Abbott pictured on election night conceding defeat at Manly Leagues Club in Brookvale. Picture: (AAP Image/Bianca De Marchi)

• Zali Steggall moves into Tony Abbott’s office, signage replaced
• Zali Steggall’s manifesto reveals her plans for the future

LIBERAL Party members in Warringah are set to have an “ugly bloodletting” at the first Federal Electoral Conference (FEC) meeting since Tony Abbott was unseated at last month’s election.

A number of senior Liberals, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of expulsion from the party, also said the FEC executive leadership team could end up being replaced as a result of Mr Abbott’s defeat.

A motion will be put up at the meeting, to be held at Balgowlah RSL on June 21, by the Cremorne Point Branch calling on the FEC for answers over the election defeat.

The motion, in the meeting agenda seen by the Manly Daily, said: “As the Party was unsuccessful in retaining the seat of Warringah at the last Federal Election, the Cremorne Point branch moves that a complete review of the campaign is undertaken to understand what went right and what went wrong.”

A robust discussion over what went wrong with Mr Abbott’s campaign is expected at the meeting. Picture: Tim Hunter.

The motion said it should have a “specific emphasis on understanding the demographic breakdown across the electorate and the way the FEC Executive communicated with branches and volunteers responsible for interfacing with voters across the campaign”.

“As an outcome of the review we recommended the FEC develops a complete package of policies and procedures for undertaking future campaigns,” it said.

A Liberal source said it would be “very hotly debated”.

“The focus will be the conduct of the election from a Liberal Party perspective because people are wanting answers as to why everything went off the rails,” the source said.

Another pointed to the fact that there had not been a FEC meeting since the September night in 2018 when about one third of the Liberal members present voted not to endorse Mr Abbott, despite him standing unopposed.

“Initially there is going to be a lot of bloodletting before anything constructive will be put in place,” another source said.

Mr Abbott was not short of high profile support on the campaign trail with the likes of John Howard and Michaelia Cash visiting the electorate (AAP Image/Jeremy Piper).

“There needs to be a complete purge of what happened.

“The people, who prosecuted the election campaign, need to answer why it went so wrong.

“Why such a large section of the party was shut-out, and the fact there was no meeting since that very very ugly endorsement meeting.

“The endorsement meeting was an indication of the rank and file members’ feeling, they were shut-out, and in hindsight the election result was not surprising.”

However, another source said there were few complaints among local Liberals about how the campaign was run.

“I think overall the view is that there is not much more that could have been done.

“The overwhelming view is that the community was sick of Tony.

“You only have to look at the Federal Election result nationally or the State result in Manly and North Shore to see that the problem was not with the Liberal Party.”

While many told the Manly Daily they expected the meeting to be fiery, others said it would be far more civilised.

Mr Abbott has kept a low profile since his defeat last month. Pictured above outside his home as he heads off on a bike ride. Photo Jeremy Piper

“I think there is a fair bit of emotion, that is to be expected,” one source said.

“The seat of Warringah was the jewel in the crown for the Liberal Party and it has been served well, but obviously there was a need for change and that is something a lot of members respect.

“But there is one unifying element to this, that is a view to winning the seat back.

“The level of energy that is building to win this back is white hot.”

There was conjecture as to whether Mr Abbott would show up, with one source saying it was “highly unlikely”.

Another source said they expected Mr Abbott to be in attendance.

“I expect him to be there and to still be involved,” the source said. “This is the start of the fightback and I fully expect Warringah to be Liberal in three year’s time.”

A number of Liberals also said they thought the executive of the conference could be replaced with new blood.

“I think there will be some wholesale changes following this meeting, it is a good starting point,” one said.

Mr Abbott was contacted, but did not return calls.