Robert Clark to quit Vic Lib presidency

Greg Mirabella, who recently lost his Senate seat in the federal election, is expected to nominate for the Victorian Liberal presidency with predecessor Robert Clark’s support.

Outgoing Victoria Liberal Party president Robert Clark. Picture: AAP Image/Julian Smith

Liberal elder Robert Clark will step down as the party’s Victorian president in August, just three months from the state election.

The Weekend Australian understands Greg Mirabella, who lost his Senate seat in May, is expected to nominate for the presidency with Mr Clark’s support.

It is not yet clear if there will be nominees from opposing factions, aligned with powerbroker Michael Kroger and former minister Michael Sukkar.

An attorney-general under premier Denis Napthine, Mr Clark took over the presidency from Mr Kroger following the 2018 state election, at which the Coalition lost 11 seats – including Mr Clark’s – to hold just 27of the 88-seat Legislative Assembly.

Greg Mirabella on his property near Wangaratta.

As president, he commissioned an audit of party membership conducted by accounting firm KordaMentha, following allegations against powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan and Mr Sukkar — neither of whom was ultimately found to have breached the party’s constitution.

Mr Clark also sold the party’s headquarters at 104 Exhibition Street to help shore up its financial position, which, combined with money invested through associated entity the Cormack Foundation sees the Victorian division worth more than $100m.

The Liberals faced two federal elections under Mr Clark’s presidency – losing the marginal seats of Corangamite and Dunkley in 2019 (after unfavourable redistributions), and a further four seats, including blue-ribbon Higgins, Kooyong and Goldstein, in May – to hold just eight of 39 Victorian federal electorates.

In a letter to party members on Friday, Mr Clark said he had worked to help the party organisation rebuild after “several difficult years”. “We have made considerable progress,” he wrote. “Open and democratic preselections have been fully restored. Respect for the party’s constitution has been strengthened.”

Under Mr Kroger’s presidency the party controversially became involved in a costly court battle with the administrators of the Cormack Foundation, and sitting MPs had preselections upheld by the party administration, protecting them from any challenge.

Mr Clark said the party had preselected “many talented candidates” for the November state election, “and we have dramatically boosted the party’s focus on and support for campaigns in long-held Labor seats”.

“These and other reforms have provided a sound foundation for our party to win and succeed in future, but they are only a foundation,” he said.

“To build on that foundation, in my view the party now needs a state president who can bring a new and different set of skills and experience to the role.”