Court dismisses legal challenge to Liberal preselections in major win for Scott Morrison
The NSW Court of Appeal has delivered a major legal win for Scott Morrison just days before the federal election campaign.
Scott Morrison has been handed a resounding legal victory just days out from the election campaign, with the NSW Court of Appeal dismissing a case challenging the endorsement of three of his senior MPs.
Despite the comprehensive ruling against him, sources close to state executive member Matt Camenzuli said he intended to appeal the decision, with his legal team expected to file in the High Court before lunchtime on Wednesday.
In a judgment handed down on Tuesday afternoon, the full bench of the NSW Court of Appeal found the court had no power to rule on whether the endorsement of Immigration Minister Alex Hawke, Environment Minister Sussan Ley and North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman by a temporary committee was valid.
“The court has concluded that the Electoral Act provisions relating to the nomination and endorsement of candidates do not create justiciable rights or interests arising from internal party processes of preselection,” Justice John Basten said.
In addition to Mr Morrison’s three MPs, Mr Camenzuli’s legal team, led by barrister Scott Robertson, had sought an injunction seeking to strike out the Liberal Party’s candidates in Hughes, Eden-Monaro, Parramatta, Warringah, Fowler, Grayndler, Greenway, McMahon and Newcastle.
With the appeals court’s judgment likely to have major ramifications for the case brought against the additional nine Liberal candidates, the decision will clear the path for the Prime Minister to call the election in the coming days.
In their written judgment, judges Basten, Mark Leeming and Anthony Payne found the public interest in the functioning of major political parties did not “justify judicial intervention in internal party disputes generally”.
In an attempt to instil finality into the months-long matter, Justice Basten addressed the competing interpretations of the Liberal Party’s federal constitution, concluding that even if the matter were justiciable, the federal executive had a “broad power” to bypass the NSW Liberal constitution and intervene.
“Of neither interpretation is the federal executive’s power to endorse candidates constrained by the federal constitution, it confers a broad power of intervention on the federal executive to bypass the divisional constitution,” he said.
“It follows that the challenge to the resolution preselecting the sitting members as the Liberal Party candidates in Mitchell, Farrer and North Sydney must be rejected.”
Tuesday’s Court of Appeal judgment revolved around the Liberal federal executive’s decision on March 4 to temporarily dissolve the NSW division’s state executive, installing a committee comprising Mr Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former federal Liberal president Christine McDiven.
Mr Camenzuli’s counsel asserted the committee’s endorsement of Mr Morrison’s three senior MPs was “invalid” and had no legal standing to select candidates under the NSW division’s constitution.
The comprehensive Court of Appeal ruling will set a high bar for appeal, with Mr Camenzuli’s legal representatives needing the High Court to overturn Justice Basten’s findings on justiciability and the federal party constitution.
If Mr Camenzuli appeals Tuesday’s judgment, the case could be plunged back into the High Court, just days after Chief Justice Susan Kiefel rejected Mr Morrison’s attempts to bypass the NSW Court of Appeal directly to the nation’s highest court.
Court documents filed by Mr Camenzuli’s legal representatives on Monday night requested the court restrain “senior Liberal figures – including NSW president Philip Ruddock and federal director Andrew Hirst – from requesting the names of the nine candidates be printed on ballot papers for the looming federal election”.
Costs – likely to reach into the millions of dollars – will be determined at a later date.
More Coverage
Economists urge RBA to follow US and spare the rates cut knife
After the US Federal Reserve kept rates on hold for the first time since July, JudoBank chief economic adviser Warren Hogan said it was ‘very much a cautionary tale for the RBA’.
PM defends silence around caravan plot detail amid Dutton criticism
Peter Dutton has renewed attacks on the government's anti-Semitism response as the PM rejects calls to reveal when he was briefed about the caravan plot that had potential to be 'the most catastrophic terrorist attack'.