Fresh blow for ScoMo court challenger Matthew Camenzuli

A Liberal Party rebel who took the Prime Minister to court over a bitter election brawl has been dealt a fresh blow.

Liberal Party rebel Matthew Camenzuli has been dealt a fresh blow after being ordered to cough up court costs over an election candidate preselection challenge.

Mr Camenzuli, who was recently expelled from the party, will have to front the court costs of the Prime Minister, the NSW Premier and two other Liberal officials, a court ruled on Thursday.

Legal professionals have speculated the costs could amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Mr Camenzuli took Scott Morrison, Dominic Perrottet and Liberal figure Christine McDiven to court after they took control of the NSW Liberal Party branch to hand-pick candidates for the federal election.

The Prime Minister was part of a committee that hand-picked the Liberal candidates in several of the seats for the upcoming election. Picture: Jason Edwards

Mr Camenzuli argued the federal wing of the party had no right to override the will of the state branch, but his court challenge was unsuccessful.

He also sought to argue the case before the High Court but was unsuccessful there as well.

The High Court last week also ordered Mr Camenzuli to pay the legal costs of the people he took on.

Legal sources estimated that several teams of lawyers, including Mr Camenzuli’s own, would have spent about 12 days working on the case.

Experienced lawyers can charge several thousands of dollars per day, and silks, such as Mr Morrison’s senior counsel, Guy Reynolds, can charge more than $10,000 per day.

The total amount could end up between $500,000 and $1 million, the sources speculated.

Thursday’s Appeal Court decision said Mr Camenzuli would have to pay the fees incurred by Mr Morrison, Mr Perrottet and Ms McDiven, as well as Liberal Party president John Olsen.

However, the costs did not apply to the other defendants in the case, including Farrer MP Sussan Ley, Mitchell MP Alex Hawke and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman, because those people did not play an active role in the proceedings.

A person close to Mr Camenzuli said he would pay the costs out of his own pocket and that he was weighing his options for the future.

Mr Morrison’s win ended an internal factional dispute which had gone on for months and meant he was able to pick Liberal candidates in a fistful of NSW seats.

Originally published as Fresh blow for ScoMo court challenger Matthew Camenzuli