NSW Libs divided over March election strategy

A rupture has emerged in the NSW Liberal Party over the strategy for the March election, with conservatives eager to go on the offensive to claim Labor-held seats.

NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet faces a difficult decision ahead of the 2023 March election. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Gaye Gerard

A rupture has emerged in the NSW Liberal Party over strategy for the March election, with conservatives eager to go on the ­offensive to claim Labor-held seats in western Sydney.

Eleven years into the ­Coalition’s reign, already in minority government and grappling with an integrity scandal at the heart of his government, Premier Dominic Perrottet faces a difficult task fending off a resurgent Labor Party while picking up enough seats to govern in his own right.

The electoral equation has led members of the Liberal Right to set their sights on seats in Sydney’s west and on the central coast, with one MP saying there were “huge opportunities” out there, naming the Labor-held Liverpool, Londonderry and recently established Leppington as possible gains.

“It’s in the Right’s nature to go out on the offensive. We need to take seats,” the MP said, arguing that results from May’s federal election demonstrated the promise in these areas.

The central coast seats of Gosford and Wyong have previously been identified by Liberal strategists as being ripe for taking with the right candidate.

The Australian previously revealed a number of seats being targeted by the Coalition, including Bega, Strathfield and The ­Entrance.

With the Reserve Bank attempting to fight inflation by ratcheting up the cash rate and energy costs sky high, cost-of-living concerns are almost certain to be more acute in March, leading conservative MPs to believe the economy will be fertile ground for the Coalition in the west.

Yet with the unrealised spectre of a “teal” independent assault on affluent Liberal seats causing consternation, moderate Liberal MPs believe the party should be focused on buttressing threatened seats like North Shore, and winning Labor-held seats such as Coogee and Kogarah, the latter held by Opposition Leader Chris Minns.

Despite a near-20 per cent margin, the retirement of Vaucluse MP Gabrielle Upton has caught the attention of the apolitical Voices of Wentworth, with spokeswoman Delia Burrage saying the group was “monitoring” the names of potential Liberal candidates cropping up to replace her.

Former TV personality Kellie Sloane, Woollahra mayor Susan Wynne and Coalition for Conversation chairwoman Cristina Talacko are all expected to front potentially 700 preselectors for the blue-ribbon seat in September. Despite being rumoured to run, Daisy Turnbull, daughter of former Liberal prime minister Malcolm, has ruled herself out.

Ms Burrage said “at least one” independent in the leafy eastern suburbs seat was set to run in Vaucluse. North Sydney Independents spokeswoman Kristen Lock said the group was still assessing in which seats it would support candidates, but expected to launch by the end of July.

In the neighbouring seat of Coogee, however, Ms Burrage said it was unlikely an independent would run, saying it would be a “massive task” given the expected swing against the Coalition, and there appeared to be little grievance with the Labor MP, Marjorie O’Neill.

One Liberal MP questioned what the strategy in western Sydney looked like short of engaging in a culture war and “disparaging trans teenagers”, as Scott Morrison had tried during the embers of his prime ministership.

Another, however, played down the ructions as simply the factions competing to protect their electoral assets: the conservative’s branches in Sydney’s west and southwest and the moderates in the northern beaches, eastern suburbs and the Shire.

Seats not included in Liberal strategists’ target list will be required to fend for themselves, with funding being sourced from their respective federal electorate conference branches.