New NSW Liberal president confronts preselection tensions

Former federal MP Jason Falinski will confront rising angst over preparations for the next federal election as he takes the reins of the NSW division of the Liberal Party.

Falinski, who lost the seat of Mackellar on Sydney’s northern beaches to a teal candidate at the last election, was elected party president on Friday afternoon after weeks of campaigning on a platform of modernising the division.

Then-member for Mackellar Jason Falinski talks to voters in the electorate at the federal election in May last year.Credit: Kate Geraghty

He defeated conservative candidate Philip Argy by a margin of 291-223, according to party sources not authorised to speak publicly. Falinski, a moderate MP, will replace former president Maria Kovacic who has taken the late Jim Molan’s place in the Senate.

Argy campaigned in support of a plan being pushed by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to pick all the party’s candidates for the next federal election by October.

Dutton, with the support of federal director Andrew Hirst, recently wrote to party bosses requesting the speedy process to avoid a repeat of the last federal election when some seats did not have candidates until weeks before the election.

Four senior Liberal sources said there was tension about the plan to fast-track preselections because picking candidates so far out from the next election, which could be held as late as September 2025, could dissuade talented people from running.

“Jason knows the timeline is very problematic but nobody wants another blow-up with the federal leadership,” one source said.

Senior Liberals have been urging former NSW premiers Gladys Berejiklian, Dominic Perrottet and Mike Baird, along with state opposition frontbencher Matt Kean, to run for federal seats to help revive the ailing federal brand.

However, Liberal sources said Kean was the only one of the group with a prospect of running, either in Paul Fletcher’s seat of Bradfield if he were to retire or in North Sydney. Kean angered some rank-and-file members with his renewable energy advocacy and criticisms of former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Party figures have urged Perrottet to run in North Sydney or challenge factional powerbroker Alex Hawke in Mitchell. But sources close to Perrottet said he rejected these overtures and would end up in the private sector.

Then-premier Gladys Berejiklian with Matt Kean, her environment minister, in 2020.Credit: Nick Moir

Berejiklian, whose reputation has been hit by corruption commission findings, and Baird, the chairman of Cricket Australia, considered running at the last election, but there are no indications they intend to run at the next one.

Pro-Voice Berowra MP Julian Leeser may face a preselection challenge led by conservative members of his local branches who are angry with his support for the Voice referendum.

About two dozen party members have quit or transferred their membership to nearby branches in protest. But they are a minority of members and he is expected to survive any challenge, according to sources who said Perrottet was preparing to endorse Leeser’s preselection.

An upcoming redistribution of electoral boundaries could mean preselections need to be redone if a seat is abolished and some are radically reshaped, adding weight to the arguments of those who oppose Dutton’s plan for quick preselections.

The Liberals for Yes group, including Bridget Archer, Kate Carnell, and Julian Leeser.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

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