Peter Dutton moves to lock in replacement for outgoing Liberal Karen Andrews

Peter Dutton is moving to lock in a replacement for outgoing Liberal Karen Andrews within weeks to stave off a likely threat from a teal candidate at the next election.

Karen Andrews, who has held the seat of McPherson since 2010, will quit politics at the next federal election. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

Peter Dutton is moving to lock in a replacement for outgoing Liberal Karen Andrews within weeks to stave off a likely threat from a teal candidate at the next election in one of the party’s Queensland strongholds.

The Liberal National Party has informed members it will close nominations in the Gold Coast seat of McPherson on January 15, with four male candidates likely to contest the preselection to replace Ms Andrews, who will quit politics at the next election, due in 2025.

LNP insiders have become ­increasingly concerned about the threat of a teal independent in McPherson after Climate 200-backed candidates snatched prized Liberal seats in NSW and Victoria at last year’s federal election.

A “McPherson Matters” group has been set up, complete with an ABN, which aims to hold 300 “kitchen table” conversations in the electorate by March and a “range of talks and events” in the new year.

About 300 people attended a Climate 200 event in McPherson last month that heard from teal MP Sophie Scamps – who ousted Sydney Liberal Jason ­Falinski last year – Climate 200 executive director Byron Fay and Kooyong campaign manager Ann Capling.

The McPherson Matters group is also surveying voters in the electorate about “issues and concerns” with findings to be published in March.

McPherson, which takes in the southern end of the Gold Coast, has been held by conservatives since it was designated in 1949, including former prime minister Arthur Fadden and ­Fraser government minister Eric Robinson.

LNP sources say frontrunners to replace Ms Andrews are Ben Naday – a lawyer, rural fire brigade officer and former McPherson branch chair – and Leon Rebello, a solicitor who moved to the Gold Coast from Canberra after working for then foreign minister Julie Bishop.

Ben Naday.

Leon Rebello. Picture: Instagram

The head of public affairs for Coles, Adam Fitzgibbons, whose family owns the Robina Pavilion, is also believed to be nominating, with David Stevens, who worked as a senior adviser in John Howard’s cabinet policy unit in the 1990s and later as a partner at EY in Dubai.

Nominations also close on January 15 for LNP preselection in the Greens-held seat of Ryan, which takes in the affluent suburbs in Brisbane’s west.

Once a Liberal heartland ­reserved for future ministers, Ryan fell to the Greens in a big 9.86 per cent swing last year.

Barrister Maggie Forrest, the LNP’s honorary legal adviser, is frontrunner for preselection in the seat. Former Ryan MPs ­Julian Simmonds and Jane Prentice have ruled out another run.

A spokesman for Mr Dutton said the LNP would have “strong local candidates in both seats”.

“A vote for a teal candidate or a Greens candidate is a vote for Anthony Albanese,” he said.

McPherson Matters and Climate 200 were contacted for comment.