Party rifts emerge over Liberal election review before it begins

A looming post-mortem into the NSW Liberals’ failed election campaign has exposed deep rifts within the party’s ranks, with one of two people picked to run the review pulling out after uproar from senior party figures.

Less than a month after the former 12-year government’s election defeat, senior NSW Liberals had threatened to boycott the campaign review because of the proposed appointment of a pollster whose company helped promote Climate 200 candidates.

Dominic Perrottet, with wife Helen, after conceding defeat in the NSW election.Credit: James Brickwood

State president Maria Kovacic on Tuesday put forward RedBridge Group director Tony Barry to conduct the review alongside former party leader Kerry Chikarovski in an electronic ballot sent to members of the party’s state executive.

But after an outpouring of anger from senior Liberals because of Barry’s links to RedBridge, the party scrapped the motion late on Tuesday.

In a message to state executive members, party affairs manager Winston Chessell wrote that the motion was withdrawn “as a result of one of the two proposed members of the review committee deciding not to take part in the committee”.

The fracas marks another example of the dysfunction which has plagued the Liberal Party in NSW and federally. While it was Barry’s appointment to the post-mortem which had sparked anger on Tuesday, it’s understood it was Chikarovski who withdrew her involvement.

She did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday.

While Barry is also a former deputy state director of the party’s Victorian division, several Liberals speaking on condition of anonymity because of rules prohibiting them from discussing internal decisions had said the move would undermine the election review.

RedBridge was commissioned by Climate 200 to conduct a series of quantitative surveys in five state electorates between September and October last year.

Barry declined to comment, but the Herald understands he only became an equity partner of the firm in December, after it had conducted polling work for Climate 200 in both the NSW and Victorian elections.

“It is complete madness and MPs and party members would not only be incensed but no one relevant to the campaign will take part if Tony Barry is involved,” a senior Liberal source said.

One member of the state executive likened the move to a “Trojan horse” being led into Liberal head office.

“I think it’s a huge mistake by Maria. He’s a pollster for a rival organisation,” they said, adding key members and advisers central to the Liberal campaign had indicated they would refuse to hand over information critical for a full and frank investigation.

Another state executive member criticised the decision, calling it a “very bad move” and a “political death wish [for Kovacic]” given RedBridge had conducted Climate 200 polling.

However, former minister and Liberal leadership hopeful Anthony Roberts, who himself faced a fierce teal threat in his seat of Lane Cove, said he was unfazed by the move to appoint Barry.

“A pollster is a pollster. It doesn’t necessarily mean they have leanings any which way. And Chikarovski is good. Very good,” he said.

“Just as you go to a lawyer, you could contract them and without fear or favour they undertake that work.”

A party spokesman declined to comment.

Another Liberal MP and moderate powerbroker also defended the move, calling Barry a “fiercely strategic mind and [with an] honest conviction that is absolutely required after an election loss.”

Climate 200, which was founded by Simon Holmes a Court, backed independent teal candidates who set their sights on historic Liberal strongholds in March, buoyed by the success of last year’s federal poll.

The organisation backed candidates in seats including Pittwater, Manly, Lane Cove and North Shore, however only one – Judy Hannan on Sydney’s south-western fringe seat of Wollondilly – was successful.

Hannan, who does not identify as a teal, knocked off Liberal right-wing warrior and former government whip Nathaniel Smith.

Another senior Liberal source said appointing someone from an organisation linked to competitor polling was “an absolute joke”.

“Giving the review to an organisation that has done work to unseat Liberals is like having someone batting for Australia whose heart is in it for England,” they said.

“It will be a stitch-up. The whole point of the review will be to protect the defensive work they did on the northern beaches and just forgetting that they ignored MPs in Western Sydney, the Central Coast and the south coast.”

The appointments were proposed by Kovacic in an email to state executive members before the decision on Tuesday.

As well as a motion to appoint Barry and Chikarovski, a second motion in the electronic ballot will set out proposed terms of the internal review, including “examination of the performance of and lessons arising for” the state director and executive, the parliamentary team and local campaigns.

The review will also examine party factions and candidate selection, including timing and vetting processes. It will consider recommendations of the 2022 federal election review.

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