Grassroots Victorian Libs force council emergency

Latest development state president Robert Clark’s ongoing dispute with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and the federal parliamentary party over preselection timing.

A group of Victorian Liberal Party members say state president Robert Clark’s call to start preselections early will harm its poll prospects. Picture: Josie Hayden

Victorian Liberal Party president Robert Clark will be forced to hold an emergency state council meeting in the latest development in his ongoing dispute with Josh Frydenberg and the federal parliamentary party over pre­selection timing.

A group of 50 Liberal Party members on Friday submitted a petition to state campaign director Sam McQuestin requesting the meeting under the party’s constitution to discuss Mr Clark’s decision to force candidates to nominate by the end of January for preselection for Liberal-held seats — up to 2½ years ahead of the next election.

The petition — from grassroots and long-term members including former Liberal women’s council chairs Carol Walters and Norma Wells, former state finance council chair Peter Rawlings and former member for Dunkley Chris Crewther — follows a November letter signed by all 17 Victorian federal Liberal MPs that urged Mr Clark to ­reconsider.

Under the party’s constitution, Mr Clark has 28 days to give a minimum of 14 days’ notice of a special state council, meaning the meeting may not take place until after the January 29 closing date for preselection nominations, and leading to fears the issue will still be in contention when federal parliament returns in February.

In a letter to party members responding to the petition at the weekend, Mr Clark acknowledged it was the right of any 50 state council members “to sign a requisition and to require the party to incur the costs of holding an additional state council if they consider it justified”.

“However, both the timing and the terms of this requisition are most concerning,” he wrote.

The requisition seeks to prohibit the party from starting to preselect any candidates for the next federal election until after October 1, 2020, describing Mr Clark’s decision to commence preselections earlier as harmful to their prospects at the next election. Mr Clark holds the numbers on the party’s state administrative committee.

“By conducting preselections more than two years ahead of the next election, many quality candidates will simply not stand – especially those in jobs which preclude them from being a preselected candidate while continuing to work,” the petitioners argued.

They also cited population data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics last week showing that Victoria’s population growth will result in an additional federal seat in the state when an electoral commission redistribution is finalised in July, and argued rigorous candidate vetting procedures recommended in recent state and federal election campaign reviews would not yet be in place if the preselections go ahead as planned.

“In the event that a sitting MP loses preselection 2 – 2.5 years ahead of the next election, we risk expensive and high-risk by-elections, at a time when we have a majority of just two seats in the House of Representatives, and already stretched party finances,” the petitioners argued.

“With a likely electoral boundary redistribution being commenced in June/July 2020, potential candidates won’t know the true seat boundaries they are standing for.

“We risk preselecting our best candidates for seats that become safe Labor seats, and/or missing the chance to preselect the best possible candidate for seats that become marginal and must-win for the election.”

Federal Liberal Party President Nick Greiner said that while the issue was a matter for the Victorian division, he had told Mr Clark “that I thought the preselections could be delayed a bit without much loss of anything”.

Mr Clark holds the numbers on the party’s state administrative committee, which supported his proposed timeline 11 votes to 10 in November.

His critics say the timeline is a means of ousting long-serving MP Kevin Andrews, and attempting to ensure he is not replaced by a factional ally.