Party hopper’s candidacy raises Lib eyebrows

Jan Norberger’s recent record of party-hopping has raised eyebrows within the Liberal Party.

Former Joondalup MP Jan Norberger, who quit the Liberal Party to join the Australian Christians, is now the Liberal candidate for Pearce. Picture: Colin Murty/The Australian

The Liberals’ chances of reclaiming one of its former stronghold seats in Western Australia look likely to rest with a candidate who quit the party just one year ago.

Jan Norberger, who held the state seat of Joondalup for the Liberals until 2017, left the party last year and joined the Australian Christians.

Multiple Liberal sources have told The Australian that Mr Norberger had sought the No.1 spot on the Australian Christians’ ticket for the WA parliament’s upper house, only to quit the fringe party after they preselected someone else for that position.

Last week, he was the sole person to put their name forward to run for the Liberals in the federal seat of Pearce, the Perth northern suburbs seat that was formerly held by Christian Porter but was lost by the party for the first time in 2022.

It is understood Mr Norberger formally rejoined the Liberals earlier this year. Given his previous membership of another party, his application had to be approved by the state executive.

Mr Norberger’s recent record is understood to have raised eyebrows among some senior people inside the party.

He was approached for comment but party rules preclude him from speaking to the media.

WA Liberal Party state director Simon Morgan said Mr Norber­ger, like any party member, was entitled to seek endorsement as a candidate.

“Decisions as to his candidacy will be made by party members through a plebiscite,” he said.

Pearce is one of the six WA seats lost by the Liberals at the 2022 election, with the state proving central to allowing Labor to govern in its own right.

The seat is held by former City of Wanneroo mayor Tracey Roberts with a comfortable 18 per cent margin.

Jan Norberger, pictured in 2017 when he was the Liberal MP for Joondalup. Picture: Colin Murty/The Australian

Assuming Mr Norberger’s candidacy is confirmed, he will be one of no less than six former Australian Christians members or candidates who will be running for the Liberals in WA at the upcoming state and federal elections.

Howard Ong, who secured the nomination for the seat of Tangney after initial pick Mark Wales quit the race, described himself as an ‘inactive member” of the Australian Christians from January 2022 to July 2023.

At a state level, Phil Twiss – an Australian Christians candidate in the 2016 federal election – is all but assured a place in parliament after he secured a top six position on the Liberals’ upper house ticket.

Also looking for a spot in the WA parliament’s upper house is Amanda-Sue Markham, who stood for the Christian Democrats in 2001, and Ka-ren Chew, who stood for the Christian Democrats in 2005, 2008 and 2013.

Dawesville candidate Owen Mulder, meanwhile, ran for the fringe party in the 2013 federal election.

Changes to the WA electoral system enacted by the McGowan government soon after its record-breaking 2021 election mean that the Australian Christians are considered all but certain to emerge with at least one seat in the WA parliament’s upper house at the upcoming March election.

The influence of conservative Christians over the WA Liberal Party has been a source of tension in the party in recent years.

One party source told The Australian that the candidates emerging for the upcoming elections showed the factional influences had not changed, despite reforms to the way the party preselects candidates.

“Despite spending the last two or three years being in this civil war against each other, none of that [factional influence] has gone away,” the source said.

“If anything, that Christian faction is stronger than it’s ever been.”

Mr Morgan defended the party’s preselections, noting that the party’s plebiscite model compared favourably with Labor’s union-led process.

“Liberal Party candidates are chosen by Liberal Party members through democratic Liberal Party preselections. Candidates must disclose, and can be asked about, their previous membership of other political parties by preselectors before they make their decision,” he said.