Scott Morrison forced to wait for court decision on Liberal Party candidate plan

The authority of Scott Morrison and a committee to select candidates in 12 seats was challenged in court on Friday.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison delivers a speech about the federal budget in Sydney on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Christian Gilles

The NSW Court of Appeal has reserved its decision on whether Scott Morrison and other senior Liberals are legally entitled to select candidates across a swathe of NSW seats ahead of the upcoming election.

The hearing before Justice’s John Basten, Mark Leeming and Anthony Payne on Friday heard numerous arguments challenging the authority of Mr Morrison and an appointed committee to select candidates across 12 critical seats.

Mr Morrison has for months attempted to bypass his own state division and local Liberal Party branches to install candidates in moves that have angered the grassroots membership of the party, who have sought a democratic voting process.

Further legal arguments were made about the matter of jurisdiction, and whether the case should be heard by the Court of Appeal or whether it needed to be ventilated before the High Court in Canberra.

Ending the hearing on Friday, Justice Basten said deliberations would commence immediately and a judgment would be handed down as expeditiously as possible. This is because Mr Morrison appears likely to call an election imminently, possibly within the next week.

“(The court) is of course aware of the urgency of the resolution of this dispute, and will give its judgment as soon as conveniently possible.”

NSW Liberal Party state executive member Matt Camenzuli brought the case and essentially challenged Mr Morrison and the Liberal Party’s federal executive over its appointment of a temporary committee to endorse three candidates – Sussan Ley, Trent Zimmerman and Alex Hawke.

Mr Camenzuli’s challenge argues that the appointed committee, which includes NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former federal president Chrstine McDiven, has no authority to appoint or endorse candidates. The authority was granted by the party’s federal executive last week and is set to expire at 6pm on Saturday.

If Mr Camenzuli is successful, the appeal will not only annul the candidacy of Ms Ley, Mr Zimmerman and Mr Hawke, but other prospective appointees in nine additional NSW seats.

Legal representatives for Mr Morrison had sought to have the matter moved to the High Court on Thursday however this was unsuccessful and the matter was remitted to the NSW Court of Appeal.

However, High Court Chief Justice Susan Kiefel said that day that an appeal may still be heard as early as Tuesday.

Local lawyer Jenny Ware reportedly has the support of the party’s moderate faction and significant backing within the local branch for the seat of Hughes. She is understood to count NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman as a supporter.