Class action launched against NSW Liberals over local elections nomination failures

Candidates left off ballots by the NSW Liberal Party’s nomination bungle have banded together in a class action.

Class action specialist George Newhouse will lead the legal fight. Picture: John Feder.

Local council candidates left off ballots in a nominations fiasco by the NSW Liberals have taken legal action against the party.

On Monday, Sydney firm Centennial Lawyers submitted a statement of claim for a class-­action lawsuit in the Supreme Court. Liberal Cessnock Council candidate Paul Paynter and former Cessnock deputy mayor John Moores are the lead plaintiffs in the matter.

In August, The Australian revealed Centennial was pondering a class action on behalf of more than 140 candidates “let down by their organisation” who were struck from ballots due to the negligence of state Liberal administration.

“The refund of application fees is just the beginning,” Centennial Lawyers principal solicitor ­George Newhouse said at the time.

“Councillors would expect to receive a fee of between $20,000 and over $100,000 each year for four years if they were successful (in an election). I’m pleased (the party has) ­acknowledged responsibility for the losses and damages to the careers of those whose nomination forms weren’t lodged (but) compensating those individuals for their losses speaks louder than words.”

Former Cessnock Council candidate Paul Paynter

Former Cessnock Council deputy mayor John Moores

The nomination fiasco had wide-ranging consequences that have rippled through to the federal election, with a complete lack of Liberal local representation in the northern beaches, Lane Cove, Camden, Campbelltown, Cessnock, Wollongong and the Blue Mountains. It led to a wave of infighting over alleged micromanaging by party leaders while constitutional disputes chewed up time ahead of the nominations deadline.

Former prime ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott both publicly appealed for federal ­intervention.

Former state director Richard Shield and president Don Harwin were booted from the party and replaced by former director Christopher Stone.

Peter Dutton ultimately chose to place the state branch under federal administration, swinging party leadership factionally right.

Currently a three-person council of Liberal elders made up of former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, former NSW MP Peta Seaton and former Victorian senator Richard Alston runs the state branch to the chagrin of local moderate faction members.

Both Centennial Lawyers and the NSW Liberal Party were unable to comment on the class ­action due to legal sensitivities.

The state branch is now floundering under a series of accusations against its federal candidates, having dumped Whitlam hopeful Ben Britton over public and undisclosed controversial views, while Bennelong candidate Scott Yung is under party scrutiny for potentially breaching electoral law in 2019.

The party also lost a seat in the state parliament following Mr Stone’s return to the party directorship, with teal independent Jacqui Scruby securing the blue-ribbon seat of Pittwater at a by-election in October.