LNP set to oust Clive Palmer cronies

Powerbrokers linked to Clive Palmer face a backlash from grassroots members of the LNP.

Gary Spence, Bruce McIvor aboard Clive Palmer’s yacht in the Brisbane River on the night of the Queensland state election. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Powerbrokers linked to businessman Clive Palmer are facing a backlash from grassroots members of the Liberal National Party, with local branches backing a campaign to limit the influence of associates of the rival political leader on the party.

A motion was passed last month at an LNP branch meeting within the Brisbane Metro South region calling for the party to ­create a set of guidelines around conflicts of interest for members of the party executive.

The motion was raised in a bid to prevent a repeat of issues that plagued the LNP ahead of the October 31 state election, in which the business ties between headquarters and Mr Palmer derailed the party’s campaign.

Similar motions calling for the party to better deal with conflicts of interest in business and politics have been passed at other branches throughout the state, along with no-confidence votes in some senior party officials.

An earlier proposed motion, which was not put to voters at a regional meeting of the Metro South branches because of a technicality, called for the two-year suspension of several party powerbrokers, including three former presidents, over their ties to Mr Palmer, who leads the rival United Australia Party.

LNP insiders said there was a groundswell of anger over the executive’s interference in parliamentary matters, and there will be a push for constitutional change and new executive leadership at the mid-year state convention to make the party “more democratic”.

All positions will be up for grabs at the convention.

A long-time party member said he had “never seen the party so unified behind a movement”.

“The left, the right, the Christians, the atheists, everyone is in alignment,” the source said.

“We need to clean house and get on with it and focus on winning the next election. The general aim will be to try to dem­ocratise it more, to try to water down the power of the president and the president’s committee.”

Several state and federal MPs have privately backed the call.

Over the past year, The Australian has exposed the bitter divisions within the LNP, which has been gripped by allegations of branch stacking, unfair party expulsions and suspensions, and the use of Star Chamber-like candidate vetting and disciplinary hearings to fortify a small group of officials.

The series also revealed the business links of at least four senior officials to Mr Palmer, who founded and ran his rival political party after a falling out with the LNP in 2013.

LNP sources said former parliamentary leader Lawrence Springborg and past candidate Bill Glasson were being urged to run for president to replace Cynthia Hardy, who was initially brought in as a temporary replacement for David Hutchinson in July last year.

“Come convention time, I think they’ll want a change in the leadership,” a party source said. “There’s a lot of goodwill towards (party leader) David Crisafulli. Everyone wants a fresh start and none of the silly shenanigans.”

Ms Hardy replaced Mr Hutchinson after he quit the president’s role over his business ties to Mr Palmer, for whom he works as a consultant.

He is still a voting member of the executive because of his role as immediate past president.

Mr Hutchinson was outed in May for leading a destabilising campaign against Deb Frecklington, the party’s parliamentary leader at the time, for leaking polling that purportedly questioned her popularity. After the leak, Ms Frecklington said she would not bow to the “backroom bully boys” and she won the unanimous support of the partyroom to lead the LNP into the election, at which the party lost three seats to Labor.

On the night of the state election, former presidents Gary Spence, Bruce McIver and Mr Hutchinson were photographed aboard Mr Palmer’s yacht on the Brisbane River.