Victorian Liberals circulate petition over conduct of powerful administrative committee

Victorian Liberals are gathering momentum to force a special meeting to have a no-confidence motion considered against the party’s powerful administrative committee.

Victorian Liberals are gathering momentum to force a special meeting to have a no-confidence motion considered against a party committee.

A group of Victorian Liberals is seeking to sack the party’s powerful administrative committee in an escalation of the battle over preselections for federal MPs.

A petition was being circulated among party members on Tuesday night to seek to force a special state council meeting to consider a “no-confidence” motion in the committee.

The committee, led by state president Robert Clark, has opened applications this month to preselect its candidates for the next federal election.

This has put them at odds with sitting federal MPs, as veteran Menzies MP Kevin Andrews appears likely to face a challenge from barrister Keith Wolahan.

A senior Liberal source described the petition — which does not yet have enough signatures to be considered — as “bloody stupid”, while another source said it would only galvanise Mr Clark’s supporters.

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The Herald Sun understands the committee is likely to approve a previous push for a special state council meeting, which would be held on February 15.

It would allow members to vote on a motion to amend the party’s constitution and delay federal preselections until after September 1 this year, and set aside any preselections completed before then.

If Mr Andrews is the only MP challenged once applications close on January 29, the administrative committee could immediately endorse all other sitting MPs.

But if the special state council meeting goes ahead and the motion is successful, those preselections would have to be held again.

In an email to members last week, Mr Clark defended the early preselection process, saying: “The key reason is to have candidates in the field earlier for the crucial seats we need to win, so we can win more seats.”