NSW Liberals punish party’s soft-right faction

The power of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s soft-right faction in the NSW Liberal Party has plummeted post-election, losing more than half of its representation on a newly elected state executive.

New NSW Liberal Party president Maria Kovacic. Picture: John Grainger

The power of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s soft-right faction in the NSW Liberal Party has plummeted post-election, losing more than half of its representation on a newly elected state executive.

A pandemic-enforced delay to voting for the NSW division’s organisational wing boosted the moderates’ influence, with voting from the Liberal State Council on August 6 resulting in the left faction claiming almost 60 per cent of the positions.

Mr Morrison and his factional ally Alex Hawke enraged the party’s grassroots after preselection voting was delayed across a raft of seats ahead of the federal election and efforts to get candidates selected were stymied.

With former Parramatta candidate Maria Kovacic comprehensively defeating her conservative-backed rival Philip Argy for the presidency, moderates also claimed a number of key positions including urban and country and regional vice-presidents.

The centre-right, led by now Liberal backbencher Mr Hawke, saw its share fall from almost 41 per cent of the available positions on state executive, to just under 15 per cent. Former Robertson MP Lucy Wicks failed in her bid to be elected as a regional vice-president. The bad result was partially offset by the election of Sarah McMahon as an urban vice president.

One moderate state executive member, who spoke to The Australian on the condition of anonymity, said the result was a “clear rebuke” of Mr Hawke’s “Machiavellian style of politics”.

“This is an unmitigated disaster for Hawke and a clear vote of confidence for the moderates to clean up the mess his lot has left the party in,” the source said.

“It’s a clear rebuke of Machiavellian-style politics played by Hawke and a strong endorsement of electing a state executive that is ready to listen to the concerns of party membership.”

The fall of the centre-right comes after a months-long saga in the run-up to the election brought the backroom factional bickering into the spotlight.

Analysis by The Australian demonstrated Mr Morrison’s “captain’s picks” suffered swings greater than the national average against the party.