Noel McCoy election rejection has NSW Libs in revolt

NSW conservatives, furious at their candidate being barred from running at the March election, will seek to overturn the decision.

NSW Liberal conservatives, furious at their Castle Hill candidate Noel McCoy being barred from running at the March state election by the party’s vetting committee, are taking the extraordinary step of seeking to overturn the decision at next Friday’s state executive meeting.

The prospect raises the spectre of an ugly, pre-election factional spat like that seen in the shadows of the federal election in May. In a bid to prevent another bout of internal warfare, the NSW division made a number of constitutional amendments in August to protect the party’s democratic process.

A Norton Rose Fulbright partner, Mr McCoy was knocked out of running at the March election on Friday afternoon after the Liberal Party’s nomination review committee, holding a dossier of information about the former Young Liberal president, found he was not a suitable candidate.

As he appealed the decision to the party’s state executive, Mr McCoy and his factional allies claimed the Premier’s office had unfairly interfered in a matter that is simply a disagreement over his policy views.

In an email sent to his supporters on Monday, Mr McCoy said ending “wokeness being pushed from radicals” had been a “motivating factor” for him, as he outlined his policy priorities, including prioritising nuclear energy, natural gas and clean coal.

Mr McCoy, “unashamedly pro-life” and a staunch critic of former premier Gladys Berejik­lian’s Covid lockdowns, previously claimed his views had been “weaponised” against him. Liberal sources said the effort to overturn the NRC decision was “unprecedented”.

In one email sent to Liberal state president Maria Kovacic, obtained by The Australian, Round Corner branch president Simon Diab condemned the ­decision to reject Mr McCoy’s nomination, invoking the party’s public preselection imbroglio in the lead up to May.

“As you know, the NRC refused Noel’s nomination despite there being no conduct, character or probity issues identified – this is a naked attempt to wrest preselection control off of grassroots members,” he wrote.

Mr Diab called on Premier Dominic Perrottet to explicitly signal his support for Mr McCoy before next Friday’s meeting of the state executive.

Mr Perrottet faces an unenviable position: wrestling with the desires of his own faction against the unanimous decision of an NRC committee which includes his representative, Multiculturalism Minister Mark Coure.

With conservatives only controlling just over 20 per cent of the positions on state executive, Mr McCoy’s future hinges on the decisions of moderates. Senior moderate sources said their vote would be dependent on whether the Premier intervened on ­behalf of Mr McCoy.

A reference letter written for Mr McCoy by Mr Perrottet in 2018, circulated by members of the conservative faction, offered his long-term factional ally his “strong endorsement” in his bid to be elected as a NSW Liberal senator. “I believe Noel’s unique combination of conviction, leadership, practical effectiveness, and political and private sector experience would make him a huge asset to the Liberal Party and the Australian,” he wrote.