Warring Victorian Liberals back membership audit

The Victorian Liberals have backed a five-year audit of the party’s membership after branch-stacking claims.

Health Minister Greg Hunt during Question Time in the House of Representatives in Parliament House Canberra. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gary Ramage

The Victorian Liberals have backed a five-year audit of the party’s membership.

The state administrative committee on Monday night agreed to appoint a forensic accountant to investigate its membership system. The inquiry will go back five years, opening up the potential for an explosive outcome given ­relentless criticism in recent years of what is known internally as branch development activities. It will include a review of membership, rules and practices.

The move came after a senior Morrison government minister called for elections to be held in the Victorian division to resolve tensions over branch-stacking allegations and claims of inappropriate use of electoral staff.

Health Minister Greg Hunt criticised the party for failing to conduct elections during the pandemic, which he said had contributed to anger in the party.

State president Robert Clark is under pressure to allow elections although he could face pressure for his own position. Mr Hunt also said a review to be held by the state Liberal branch should examine whether any personal data had been released by anyone in the party as part of ­attempts to undermine two federal MPs.

Former Liberal powerbroker Marcus Bastiaan on Monday quit the party after a 60 Minutes report exposed claims of branch stacking and recordings of him heavily criticising other members, including commenting on the fertility of a senator’s wife. The claims have unsettled the Liberal Party, which is increasingly divided, according to state and federal MPs. Scott Morrison appears to be backing Assistant Treasurer ­Michael Sukkar and former Howard government minister Kevin Andrews, who have referred claims of wrongdoing to the ­Department of Finance.

Marcus Bastiaan and Michael Kroger.

Mr Hunt said the MPs had self-reported on the understanding they did not believe there had been any breaches. “Importantly, they’ve been ­really clear in their statements and they do have my full support and, in particular, they have referred it immediately themselves to the Department of Finance,” he told 2GB.

“I think the important things for Victoria are firstly to make sure there is an election in the Victorian division for the administrative leadership.

“I think that has been held over for nearly six months now and that’s probably an important thing that will help soothe the tensions and then, secondly, the Victorian division will hold a review and one of the things they will have to do is be very clear whether or not any personal data was released as part of this process, which I think would be unfortunate.”

Mr Hunt’s comments are a clear sign to the party that the pandemic should not unnecessarily slow down internal party ballots. The party is claiming its constitution prevents online elections but Mr Clark’s critics argue he is deliberately stopping them ­because of the threat to his position and the make-up of the ­administrative committee.

Key federal MPs are upset with the way Mr Clark is handling preselections ahead of a crucial redistribution.

The Prime Minister is resisting calls from Labor to sanction Mr Sukkar unless there are adverse findings against him by the ­Department of Finance. Labor leader Anthony Albanese urged Mr Morrison to sack Mr Sukkar from the ministry.

“This is a test for Scott Morrison. This is the test that he himself set when there were allegations into (Labor in) Victoria.”

Josh Frydenberg, the most senior Victorian Liberal in the Morrison government, also stood by Mr Sukkar. “I’ve seen the program and, with respect to the allegations against Michael Sukkar and Kevin Andrews, both have released a statement and have made it very clear that they reject those allegations, but they’ve also referred those matters to the Department of Finance for review,” the Treasurer said.