Liberal leader Matthew Guy supports sale of party HQ at 104 Exhibition St

LIBERAL leader Matthew Guy has backed the sale of the party’s city headquarters but claimed it would not build an election war chest.

LIBERAL leader Matthew Guy has backed the sale of the party’s city headquarters but claimed it would not build an election war chest.

The sale of 104 Exhibition St — floated as a way to ease the party’s financial woes — has been on the agenda for a number of years.

But the prospect has caused division among members and has previously been described as “selling the silverware”.

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It became a major issue during the recent battle for the party’s state presidency with re-elected leader Michael Kroger thought to be eyeing a sale worth about $30 million.

Mr Guy said the ageing building was no longer fit-for-purpose as a campaign space.

Liberal headquarters at 104 Exhibition St. Picture: Supplied

“I have never supported the party retaining a lazy asset in the middle of the CBD,” Mr Guy said.

“We need to move on beyond that and I have been a very public and prominent supporter of selling the building for some time — since before Michael Kroger was president.

“A political party should probably spend its money, invests its money more wisely.”

But the Opposition Leader said he “wouldn’t spend any of that money (from a sale) on the state election”.

“That’s the party’s nest egg,” he said.

“The party has to think beyond this election and the one after and the one after.

“We’ve got an asset and we should make a sensible evaluation of what we do with it.”

Victorian Liberal state president Michael Kroger. Picture: David Geraghty

Liberal leader Matthew Guy. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

Mr Guy’s comments come as tension mounts ahead of a Federal Court ruling in the party’s lawsuit against its biggest donor, the Cormack Foundation.

Justice Jonathan Beach will decide this week whether Victorian Liberals are entitled to a share in the $70 million investment fund.

Mr Kroger, who instigated the action against Cormack, is now facing calls to resign if the lawsuit falls flat on Thursday.

Mr Guy supported Mr Kroger’s re-election as party president in April and said today that he needed “Michael to be part of” the campaign ahead of November’s state election.

He also steadfastly denied that the party’s infighting — over the sale of its headquarters, federal preselections and a perceived lurch to the right — had distracted from its public message five months from the election.

“I don’t think we’re internally focused at all,” he said.

Mr Guy added: “We’ve been a tight unit, our parliamentary team, and we are going to remain that.

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