Liberal turmoil in West and Hayley Cormann’s coronation twist opens door for Basil
A growing leadership vacuum and a complicated preselection battle for lawyer Hayley Cormann have further enhanced Perth lord mayor Basil Zempilas’s prospects.
A series of spectacular own goals by the WA Liberal Party has thinned out the party’s already diminished leadership ranks, opening the door further for an audacious leadership push by celebrity candidate Basil Zempilas.
Revelations of correspondence between WA Inc era premier Brian Burke and two of the party’s most senior MPs has damaged the standing of Liberal leader Libby Mettam and diminished the prospects of two of her key deputies, opening up a leadership vacuum within the party.
And efforts to bring prominent Perth barrister Hayley Cormann - the wife of former federal finance minister Mathias Cormann - in as a star candidate for next year’s state election have also hit a major hurdle, with former factional allies of Mr Cormann throwing their weight behind a rival candidate for the prime seat of South Perth.
Liberal Party deputy leader and shadow treasurer Steve Thomas on Tuesday stood down from the two roles, following revelations that he had sought Mr Burke’s assistance to secure a meeting with prominent Perth businessman John Poynton.
Dr Thomas’ demotion was followed just hours later by revelations that his logical replacement, upper house colleague Tjorn Sibma, had also engaged in email correspondence with Mr Burke.
While the interactions between the duo and Mr Burke appear modest, they came amid a concerted effort by Ms Mettam to highlight the ongoing relationships between the controversial Labor figure and members of the Cook government.
The turmoil of Tuesday leaves the party light on alternative leadership options.
Former leader David Honey recently lost preselection for his seat of Cottesloe, upper house MP Nick Goiran was last year demoted over his role in The Clan Whatsapp chat scandal, Peter Collier and Donna Faragher have flagged they will retire at the next election, and Merome Beard only recently defected to the party from the Nationals and her seat is about to be abolished.
That leaves only the relatively low-profile regional upper house MPs Steve Martin and Neil Thomson to vie for the deputy leadership.
Sources close to Mr Zempilas confirmed to The Australian that they were encouraging the media personality and City of Perth lord mayor to keep an open mind about taking on the Liberal leadership before the next election in light of the latest turmoil.
While the WA Liberal constitution appears to rule out someone outside the parliament from holding the leadership, any further deterioration of the party’s prospects could prompt the party to find a way to act before the next election.
Mr Zempilas will learn on Wednesday whether he will face any competition to be preselected for the seat of Churchlands, one of the historically safe Liberal seats lost by the party in the extraordinary 2021 state election rout.
The complications facing Ms Cormann in her long-awaited effort to enter parliament could spell further good news for Mr Zempilas’ leadership ambitions, given she could be one of his key leadership rivals should they both get into parliament.
While Mathias Cormann was not long ago regarded as the kingmaker of the WA Liberal Party, given his influence over the preselection process, the headwinds facing Ms Cormann in her efforts to secure the party’s nomination for the seat of South Perth shows how much the family’s influence has waned in some corners.
What would have previously been expected to be a coronation for Ms Cormann has instead turned into a genuine three-cornered fight for South Perth, with some of her husband’s old factional colleagues now throwing their weight behind a rival candidate.
Property lawyer and City of South Perth deputy mayor Bronwyn Waugh has drawn support from key factional allies of influential and controversial upper house MP Nick Goiran, who alongside Mr Cormann were central figures in a group that called itself The Clan.
A cache of WhatsApp messages leaked to the media in 2021 revealed how The Clan wielded its influence over preselections and party appointments, with Mr Cormann at the heart of it.
Mr Cormann was firmly ensconced in Paris in his role as chief executive of the OECD at the time the scandal broke, leaving Mr Goiran and colleague Peter Collier to bear the brunt of the fallout.
Ms Waugh’s candidacy reflects the lack of unanimous support for Ms Cormann from the conservatives who have long held considerable sway over preselections south of the Swan River. As well as being the deputy mayor, Ms Waugh is a director of Cornerstone Legal, the land compensation law firm of influential party figure Tim Houweling.
Mr Houweling, who is the chair of the party’s constitutional and drafting committee, is widely seen as one of Mr Goiran’s closest allies.
One party source said that while Ms Cormann was the strongest candidate on paper, he expected Ms Waugh to win given her apparent factional support.
“If Hayley gets up, it would be a surprise given there’s not a factional explanation for why that would happen,” he said.
“Hayley is the better-credentialled candidate, so it’s not impossible, but this is a brutal numbers game.”
The Australian can also reveal that Ms Cormann’s application includes a reference from Joshua Thomson, who stepped down from his role as WA’s state solicitor late last year.
Ms Cormann herself is a former president of the Law Society of WA.
Ms Cormann has a decades-long association with the party - she met her husband through Liberal Party circles - and her deep legal credentials would be particularly valuable to the parliamentary party.
The only qualified lawyer representing the Liberals in the current WA parliament is Mr Goiran, who remains on the outer over his involvement in The Clan Whatsapp saga.
The election of Ms Cormann would give Ms Mettam a viable alternative to Mr Goiran to take on the attorney general portfolio.
But Ms Cormann’s current living arrangements have given some party members cause for concern. Ms Cormann is living between Perth and Paris, and some have questioned the wisdom of endorsing someone who will have to commute between the two cities over the remainder of this year before she eventually returns to Perth full-time.
The third candidate for the seat, City of South Perth mayor Greg Milner, is meanwhile expected to attract votes from delegates concerned about the perceived Clan links of Ms Waugh and Ms Cormann.
Party insiders expect Wednesday night’s South Perth vote will be the first preselection under the WA party’s new plebiscite model to go to preferences.
Should Ms Cormann fail to secure the seat, it would be a further boost to Mr Zempilas’ prospects. Ms Cormann’s experience would make her not just a potential future attorney general if she found her way into parliament, but also a viable alternative Liberal Party leader by the 2029 state election.
Premier Roger Cook said the latest dysfunction showed that the Liberals were not fit to govern.
“If you can’t trust the Liberal Party with the very basic question like ‘have you had contact with an individual?’, then you can’t trust them with government,” he said.
“It’s another sign that they can’t be trusted to be the leaders of the state.”
Previous votes over the past month have seen former party leader David Honey lose preselection for the seat of Cottesloe to Property Council of Australia’s Sandra Brewer, federal MP Ian Goodenough lose Moore to former colleague Vince Connelly, and former Uber executive Tom White defeat defence expert Matt Moran to represent the party for the once blue chip seat of Curtin.
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