Nigel Satterley vows to continue assault on WA Liberals

Property developer Nigel Satterley survived an attempt by the WA Liberal Party to have him expelled.

Nigel Satterley has become increasingly vocal in his criticism of the Liberal Party in recent years. Picture: Colin Murty

Billionaire property developer Nigel Satterley has vowed to continue in his public criticisms of the West Australian Liberal Party after he survived an attempt to have him expelled.

Mr Satterley, whose namesake property development company has made him his fortune, appeared before the WA Liberals’ Appeals and Disciplinary Committee on Monday evening.

He was represented at the hearing by high-profile Perth lawyer Steven Penglis SC, who is understood to have stressed to the panel that any attempt to progress the expulsion would have led to the matter ending up in the WA Supreme Court. Such an action would have come at significant cost to a party already feeling financial pressure after a string of recent election defeats, and would have also attracted ongoing media coverage.

The committee is understood to have taken just ten minutes to decide to dismiss the motion.

Mr Satterley is a long-term member of the Liberal Party and has been a major political fundraiser in WA, but has become increasingly vocal in his criticism of the party in recent years. His main target is the group of conservative powerbrokers known as The Clan, after the name they gave themselves in a WhatsApp chat group leaked to The Australian and other media outlets last year.

He has become increasingly close to WA’s Labor premier Mark McGowan and also helped organise a function for teal independent Kate Chaney during her ultimately successful campaign for the once-safe Liberal seat of Curtin during the federal election.

Speaking to The Australian on Tuesday, Mr Satterley described the outcome as a win for free speech and said he would not stop airing his views on the state of the party.

“When you’ve had four elections in a row where you’ve lost considerable space and you end up in the state parliament with only two seats, it’s not a good look,” he said.

“There’s no-one we can think of, or no-one who wants to, can roll up their sleeves and make a constructive opposition, which is what everyone wants to see.”

The original motion against Mr Satterley was moved by the party’s Fremantle branch, which is aligned with The Clan. WA Tcomplaint was drafted at a branch meeting held at the office of Liberal senator Matt O’Sullivan.

Mr Satterley had already used the expulsion motion against him to amplify his criticisms of the party, with comments made to The Australian last month being read out in parliament by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

He said he wanted to see more people step forward and hold the party’s leadership accountable.

Satterley has become increasingly close to Mark McGowan. Picture: NCA NewsWire /Philip Gostelow

“It is now time for change in the WA Liberal Party, both in leadership and the contest of ideas,” he said.

The party needed to attract a wide range of backgrounds, beliefs and views if it was to reinvigorate itself.

“If these voices continue to be suppressed within the WA Liberal Party, then the party will fail to attract the next generation of leaders and supporters … and no longer be true to its proud origins.”

A WA Liberal Party spokesman said the party was unable to comment on specific complaints “as long-standing procedural fairness provisions require disputes between members to be resolved confidentially”.