Former Morrison minister from the ACT mulls NSW Liberal Senate run

Former Morrison government minister Zed Seselja is considering a late run for the vacant NSW Liberal Senate position despite living in the ACT.

Senior right-wing NSW Liberals and former prime minister Tony Abbott are encouraging the 46-year-old to put his hand up to replace veteran senator Marise Payne before nominations close on Wednesday.

Zed Seselja (left) and Marise Payne pictured in 2021.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Five Liberal sources, who asked not to be named in order to discuss internal party deliberations, said leaders of the moderate and centre-right factions discussed at the weekend the prospect of supporting Seselja, who is backed by the hard right.

The leading candidate to replace Payne in the November preselection remains former NSW minister Andrew Constance, who is supported by Payne and hails from the same moderate grouping.

But Constance’s elevation would mean the broader right faction held an unprecedented zero out of four Senate spots, so the fractured conservative wing has continued to search for an option to take on Constance after Indigenous leader Nyunggai Warren Mundine pulled out.

“Zed has told people he is keen,” one moderate source said, while emphasising he had not made a final decision on whether to run.

Andrew Constance (left) is the leading candidate to replace Payne.Credit: Flavio Brancaleone

Another senior source, referring to the hard-right wing of the party, said: “It’s the Taliban who is backing him. If Zed is the answer, then we’re asking the wrong question.”

A centre-right source said their faction was considering supporting Seselja, and his potential candidacy had some strength because he was seen as a competent former federal minister with solidly conservative values.

Seselja did not respond to questions about this story.

The former leader of the opposition in the ACT parliament lost his Senate spot to progressive David Pocock at the previous election after the Liberal Senate primary vote dropped to its lowest position in decades.

It is unusual for a non-NSW resident to run for preselection in NSW, but a source emphasised the existence of membership transfer provisions for ACT Liberal members moving to the NSW division.

Catholic Schools NSW head Dallas McInerney.

Other conservative-aligned candidates may include Catholic Schools NSW chief executive Dallas McInerney, who is fiercely opposed by the hard right, including former NSW MP Lou Amato, who may also contest the preselection.

The highly rated Monica Tudehope, who has previously worked as Dominic Perrottet’s policy director, is considering running, along with Mina Zaki, an Afghanistan-born cyber expert, barrister Ishita Sethi, lawyer Pallavi Sinha, and former candidate Simon Kennedy.

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