Liberal moderates’ proposed party reforms seen as direct attack on Scott Morrison’s right-hand man

A preselection stoush dubbed a “debacle” by the Premier helped the Liberal Party lose the election, says one NSW Senator. Now he’s fighting to ensure it can’t happen again.

A proposal to ensure the preselection stalemate which dogged the NSW Liberals “never happens again” will be put to party members as early as July.

The reform, proposed by Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg and moderate Liberal member Jane Buncle, would dramatically reduce the power of the Leader’s representative in the preselection process and establish a “clear timetable” for candidates to be selected.

The changes have been seen as a direct attack on Alex Hawke, who was Scott Morrison’s right hand man on the Liberal party’s state executive.

In an email to the party’s rank and file on Tuesday morning, Mr Bragg and Ms Buncle were scathing of the preselection impasse which led to candidates in must-win seats being hand-picked at the last minute.

The email was seen by Liberals as effectively blaming Mr Hawke for the election loss.

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gary Ramage

“Your rights as members of our great Party were taken away before the election,” the email told members.

“Your right to have your say and select our candidates is the most important reason to be a member. Yet this precious right was taken away as our constitution was twisted and buckled.”

While not directly criticising Mr Hawke, Mr Bragg said that failing to select key candidates sooner hurt the party at the ballot box.

“Our electoral performance was impacted by the junking of democracy,” he told The Daily Telegraph.

“This must be swiftly resolved to avoid a repeat.”

The reform proposal is the first salvo in what could be an ongoing internal fight within the state party following the federal election loss.

Alex Hawke (right) was Scott Morrison’s representative on the Liberal party State Executive before the election loss. Picture: Jason Edwards

Ahead of the election, Premier Dominic Perrottet labelled the preselection stoush a “debacle” because it robbed candidates of much-needed campaigning time.

Party sources from the left and right believe Mr Hawke had his own people in mind for key seats, and wanted to protect his own preselection in the seat of Mitchell.

Mr Bragg and Ms Buncle’s reform proposal, which they plan to put to the party’s annual general meeting as soon as July, would block the leader’s representative from participating in the preselection process for their own seat.

Mr Hawke on Tuesday said that the former Prime Minister had “every right” to intervene in NSW preselections.

“The biggest challenge we faced with preselections in this round was the fact that incumbent women MPs were deliberately targeted by factions,” Mr Hawke said.

“Our now current deputy leader Sussan Ley and our first term marginal seat MP Melissa McIntosh were to be removed from parliament under Andrew Bragg’s factions decisions.”

Barrister Jane Buncle is a moderate Liberal backing the proposed reforms. Picture: Tenth Floor Chambers

Mr Hawke said the party’s constitution does need to be reformed, but said: “the reality of what happened won’t be lost on members when they look at who was responsible for trying to remove these female MPs from parliament”.

It would also limit the power of the Federal and State Executive to intervene in candidate selection.

One factional ally of Mr Hawke laughed off the proposal and pointed to the fact that of the seats the party lost in NSW, most were held by left faction Liberals.

NSW Liberals expect new leader Peter Dutton is set to replace Mr Hawke as the leader’s representative on state executive, potentially with Angus Taylor or Paul Fletcher.

Ms Buncle had been the favoured candidate for the seat of Warringah before she pulled out of the race and Katherine Deves was hand-picked by a committee including the former Prime Minister.

Originally published as Liberal moderates’ proposed party reforms seen as direct attack on Scott Morrison’s right-hand man