Key factional Scott Morrison ally Alex Hawke faces Liberal Party expulsion bid
Factional infighting in the NSW Liberals has reared its head again with a renewed push to expel Scott Morrison ally Alex Hawke and reopen a preselection challenge to Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher.
Factional infighting in the NSW Liberals reared its head again with a renewed push to expel Scott Morrison ally Alex Hawke and reopen a preselection challenge to Bradfield MP Paul Fletcher.
In the NSW Liberal State Council AGM on Saturday, there’s another motion to reinstate right-faction powerbroker Matthew Camenzuli to the party. He is the member who launched a high court challenge against federal intervention in the state party.
Party sources across each of the party’s warring factions said none of the motions was likely to get the requisite number of state council members to get over the line, particularly any move to expel federal MP Mr Hawke, which would require 60 per cent of voting members, and reopen a challenge to Mr Fletcher.
A vote to reinstate Mr Camenzuli was also thought likely to fail, party insiders said, but that would be “tight”.
The party’s faction have long been at loggerheads.
One party insider described it as “nuisance” motions from the right faction to “waste everyone’s time”.
Party insiders said the motion to expel Mr Hawke, brought by the Artarmon branch, would be voted down. “The only way it would happen is with a secret ballot, which it isn’t,” one party source said. “He deserves to be punted, but I can’t see it (the motion) getting up.”
Another party insider said it was more of a “protest motion” that was “very unlikely” to reach the required 60 per cent, saying portions of the moderates wouldn’t vote to dispel Mr Hawke, who has orchestrated ticket deals with that faction.
The Mitchell MP and former immigration minister was accused of failing to attend nomination review committee meetings before the 2022 election, delaying preselections. The delay triggered federal intervention that allowed a three-person panel, including Mr Morrison and then-premier Dominic Perrottet, to choose nine hand-picked candidates.
A motion to reopen preselection in Bradfield, brought by the party’s Roseville branch, was also likely to fail, and called for the state council to overrule a decision from the party’s state executive to reject an appeal application by candidate Paul Nettelbeck over preselection for the seat.
Mr Camenzuli’s bid to return to the party, although expected to also fail, was seen as the most likely of the three motions to pass.
His party membership was stripped in 2022 after he took the party to court over federal intervention, when the then NSW state director, Chris Stone, used special campaign powers to expel the businessman, alleging his actions were damaging to the party’s state election powers.
Although stripped of membership, Mr Camenzuli has retained influence.
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