Former Senator Amanda Stoker to face tough preselection fight

The resurrection of former Morrison government minister Amanda Stoker’s political career could be stymied by one of her controversial ex-colleagues and an Anglican priest.

Former LNP Senator Amanda Stoker is expected to vie for preselection for the state seat of Oodgeroo. Picture: David Clark

The resurrection of Morrison government minister Amanda Stoker’s political career could be stymied by one of her controversial ex-colleagues and an Anglican priest.

Ms Stoker – who lost her Queensland Senate spot at last year’s federal election after being relegated to an unwinnable spot on the ticket by the Liberal National Party – will nominate for the safe Brisbane bayside state seat of Oodgeroo.

But despite the former lawyer and television host having the backing of retiring LNP MP Mark Robinson and local federal MP Henry Pike, the party has ruled out installing her as a captain’s pick, setting the scene for a bruising preselection fight.

The Australian can reveal ­Andrew Laming, the former federal MP for the bayside seat of Bowman, has officially nominated for Oodgeroo, and is expected to be joined by a dark-horse candidate, ordained Anglican priest and former Barnaby Joyce staffer Daniel Hobbs.

Amanda Stoker. Picture: David Clark

Andrew Laming. Picture: NCA NewsWIRE/Tertius Pickard

A controversial figure, Dr Laming was an MP for 18 years before being disendorsed by the LNP ahead of the 2022 election, after a spate of harassment allegations and being ordered to take empathy training by then-prime minister Scott Morrison.

At the time, Dr Laming denied harassing women constituents and political rivals online, saying his “hard questions” had been “reinvented” as harassment.

He later won a defamation action against the Nine Network which reported he had taken an “upskirting” photo of a young female worker at a business in his electorate without her consent.

Following the defamation win, Dr Laming secured an apology and a confidential financial settlement from Nine over the network’s reporting, which included the harassment allegations.

After the settlement, Dr Laming said Nine had “dropped all of its defences” to his claim, and said that “the stream of bizarre allegations came from political critics”.

Though the Stoker and Laming camps are both bullish in their predictions of victory, the emergence of Mr Hobbs as a “clean skin” candidate has thrown a spanner in the works.

Mr Hobbs delivered the opening prayer at the LNP state convention in Brisbane this month. He was recently hired as a senior media and communications consultant with lobbying firm SAS Group, owned by Howard government minister and former Nationals president Larry Anthony.

One LNP member said: “Hobbs could come up the middle, he’s a cleanskin.”

Anglican priest and former journalist Daniel Hobbs and Opposition leader David Crisafulli at the LNP state convention in Brisbane in July. Picture: Instagram

Bowman MP Henry Pike. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen/The Australian

Dr Laming’s backers claim he has 75 per cent of the branch vote, due to loyalty built up over nearly two decades as the federal MP. There are about 100 Oodgeroo branch members, and the LNP executive will be eligible to vote if they attend the preselection.

A member of the Laming camp said Ms Stoker’s supporters – including Mr Pike, who succeeded Dr Laming in Bowman at last year’s federal election – were over-estimating her support and she would be punished for being a “blow in”.

Ms Stoker, her husband and their three children moved from the inner-west Brisbane suburb of Bardon and bought a $2.3m home in Wellington Point, in the Oodgeroo electorate, in March.

“There’s frustration in the branch that Amanda’s being sold as a local and that’s from supporters that Henry (Pike) would expect to lock behind anyone he’s backing,” a Laming supporter said. “We are parochial here.”

An LNP source said party headquarters shied away from hand-picking political candidates against the wishes of branch members.

“Amanda’s got a lot to offer but we’re a democratic party, so we need to be democratic in our processes and that would give her greater authority (if she wins),” the source said. “If someone is a superstar, they will get there.”

A supporter of Ms Stoker said she would win easily. “She’s got it in the bag, home and hosed,” the preselector said.

“There’s some sympathy for Andrew, people feel he was hard done by, but he’s also made a nuisance of himself over the last few months; he’s pissing off ­rusted-on supporters.”

“You can’t fault his local credentials, but he’s someone who comes with baggage.”

Dr Laming tested his numbers at the Oodgeroo AGM in April, and lost a vote to become the chair against the incumbent office-holder. But some branch members who voted at the April meeting will be ineligible to vote at a preselection, because LNP rules require preselectors to be paid-up members for at least 12 months.

A Stoker backer said the former senator’s ultraconservative views – opposing abortion, euthanasia and gender transition for teenagers – would be well-­received in the Oodgeroo branch.

Lawrence Springborg and Daniel Hobbs, an ordained Anglican priest and former journalist, at the LNP state convention in Brisbane. Picture: Instagram

“This is the most conservative SEC (state electorate council) in the whole of Queensland,” the backer said.

Asked whether Mr Hobbs, a priest, would take votes away from Ms Stoker, an outspoken member of the LNP’s Christian right, the source said: “He was an Anglican pastor, I wouldn’t really call that conservative.”

A date for the preselection has not yet been set.