Factions jockey before WA Liberals ‘autopsy’

Just who will lead the post-mortem into the WA Liberal Party’s disastrous election campaign remains unknown, with rival factions still jockeying to influence the process.

Senator Dean Smith. Picture: AAP

Just who will lead the post-mortem into the West Australian Liberal Party’s disastrous election campaign remains unknown, with rival factions still jockeying to influence the process.

A meeting of the party’s State Council on the weekend highlighted its financial hit from the election and left no clarity over who will lead the autopsy into the campaign.

The terms of reference for the review were scheduled to be distributed to members on Monday night, with the review set to examine not just the election itself but the preceding years of opposition, policy development and costings, finance and fundraising, organisational structure, and pre-selections, memberships and training.

Under-fire state president Fay Duda pledged that current members of parliament, candidates and state executive members would not be part of the review committee, seemingly closing the door on a push from Senator Dean Smith to participate in the process.

The meeting also shed new light on the financial difficulties faced by the party in the wake of its defeat. The electoral rebate received by the party will fall significantly by about $400,000 due to the sharp drop in the party vote.

The financial position hasn’t been helped by the need to fund legal fees, including some disputes between different Liberal Party bodies, while fundraising has fallen sharply in the year leading up to the election.

The Liberal Party recorded its worst ever result at the March 13 election, winning just two of 59 lower house seats and losing opposition party status to the Nationals. Its previous worst result was the 13 seats it won in the 2017 election.

Mr Smith had previously written to Ms Duda expressing his “strong interest” in participating in the review, arguing that the review and its recommendations should be the first step in the “rebuilding” of the party.

But his candidacy had drawn strong opposition from conservative factions, as well as members cautious about undue federal influence in the WA party.

The proposed involvement of former federal MP Michael Keenan has also drawn opposition by members concerned he is too close to the incumbent state executive team.

A coalition of factions that have dubbed themselves the ABC — “Anyone But Collier”, in reference to perceived party powerbroker Peter Collier — are proposing for the review to be run by former party presidents Bill Hassell and Danielle Blain as well as former premier Richard Court.