What kind of party do Liberals want? Of backstabbers? Faction puppets? Labor-liters?

IT’S D-DAY for embattled MP Bronwyn Bishop, with Liberal party preselectors today casting their votes on their favoured candidate for the seat of Mackellar. Some Liberal party insiders say it could be the end of the former speaker’s political career... Along with Ms Bishop, the other main contenders are Jason Falinski, who has worked with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Walter Villatora, who is Mr Abbott’s preferred choice... Altogether there are seven candidates in what is being described as the most bitter preselection in more than a decade.

Mr Falinski, a businessman and senior staffer for NSW Transport Minister Andrew Constance, is said to control a majority of votes in the preselection, with his backers counting between 41 and 44 votes in his favour. Mrs Bishop could get up to 35 votes, and Mr Villatora is expected to receive up to 15.

Bishop has not the faintest hope of ever getting a position of authority in this or any other government. Bishop is a figure of mockery in the media and in the public after her Choppergate scandal and absurd sense of entitlement. Bishop is not trusted even by her own Right faction after her spiteful betrayal of Tony Abbott, voting against him after he finally urged her to resign as Speaker over Choppergate - and after Abbott had paid a high price in the polls for showing her loyalty for far too long. Bishop has made no positive contribution to public policy for a long time. Bishop attracts almost uniformly negative publicity for the Liberals. Bishop, if preselected, could lose the Liberals this safe seat at the election. The Liberals members voting in this pre-selection should consider very carefully if voting for Bishop is good for their electorate, their party, their government or their country. In what way would voting for her advance the contest of ideas?

Falinski is the creature of Photios, who helped to punish talent at the Senate preselections which he turned into a farce that is now being overturned in an ugly brawl. Let's check Photios's latest pick, to see of the judgement of this fixer and lobbyist is as bad as ever. Falinski in 2001 wrote that he was against stopping the boats that eventually dumped 50,000 illegal immigrants here, even after 1200 died on the way:

If, however, Australia's political leaders feel that it's easier to pander to the xenophobic tendencies of some in our community by expelling "illegal" migrants in vast numbers, or loading the judicial dice to ensure the sick, the old and the ailing have one more hurdle to jump before being allowed to stay here, then they are doing our nation a disservice and damaging our long-term economic and social interests... Finally, there is the moral argument. How many of us would voluntarily choose to pay thousands of dollars to sit on the bottom of a leaky boat for months on end to be dropped off in another country where we know no-one and do not speak the language? It is not something that we, as a nation, should shun, but rather welcome as an affirmation of our nation in the eyes of the truly needy... By removing the restrictions on those wishing to move to Australia we would improve our prospects in growing our market. We'd improve our networks and innovation. And we'd make ourselves once more relevant to the world. History has shown that those countries that warmly embrace new migrants enjoy these outcomes. Australia's stance should be clear - let them come, and hope they stay.

Concerned? Confused? So am I. Who’s our minister? That would be the Minister for Desk Toys and Paper Cuts, Mr Kevin Andrews. Nothing from him about the aged care system yet, old or new.

The Liberal Party is facing the critical question of how it can become relevant again to the Australian community ... [because of its"> populist right wing stance on a range of issues.

Step forward Jason Falinski who has nominated to become Warringah’s first popularly elected mayor under the banner of “Warringah 08”... “Warringah 08” is a Liberal trojan horse and Falinski is seeking the mayor’s position so he can launch the next stage of his ambitious political career in federal or state parliament. The likely targets of Phase II are Brad Hazzard’s state seat of Wakehurst or Bronwyn Bishop’s federal seat of Mackellar. Falinski has a chequered history in the Liberal Party. He is one of the chief spear carriers for The Group, the “wets” whose titular federal leader is Joe Hockey and whose state chief is former NSW minister Michael Photios... A former president of the blue ribbon Point Piper branch, Falinski was campaign manager for merchant banker Malcolm Turnbull when he blitzed the seat of Wentworth at the 2004 election.