Rebel Queensland Liberal senator Gerard Rennick booted off ticket
Controversial Queensland Liberal senator Gerard Rennick has been kicked off the party’s Senate ticket, in a blow to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s authority.
Controversial Queensland Liberal senator Gerard Rennick has been kicked off the party’s Senate ticket, in a blow to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s authority.
In a shock result, about 270 members of the Liberal National Party Queensland state council on Friday voted to back party treasurer Stuart Fraser – a director of Brisbane-based finance company Winscourt Capital and former Tattersalls Club president – to take Senator Rennick’s third spot on the party’s Senate ticket for the next federal election.
That leaves former accountant Senator Rennick – already a renegade who withdrew his vote for the Morrison government in 2021 in a protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates – as a potential liability for the Coalition until the next poll.
Sources in the closed-door meeting said Senator Rennick was challenged over his “party loyalty” and saw off a challenge from registered lobbyist Nelson Savanh and two others, but Mr Fraser’s strong speech was eventually rewarded.
First-term Senator Rennick is known for his far-right views on issues such as immigration, vaccine injuries and renewable energy, and had been formally backed by Mr Dutton and several other sitting MPs and senators.
“(Senator Rennick) has demonstrated he is not afraid to take up the right in order to defend the values of the LNP … I ask you to support Gerard as part of my team,” Mr Dutton said in a written endorsement circulated to preselectors.
Mr Savanh had been backed by the increasingly powerful Young LNP and party powerbroker Senator James McGrath.
Each contender was given eight minutes to deliver a speech and seven minutes to answer questions from the floor.
Then a full exhaustive secret ballot was held for each position on the ticket, until one candidate received 51 per cent of the vote for each Senate ticket position.
Liberal senator Paul Scarr won the top spot easily, beating serial candidate Fiona Ward and former political staffer Sophia Li, and Nationals senator Susan McDonald was elected unopposed for the second position.
The third place was hard-fought by Senator Rennick, Mr Savanh and Mr Fraser, with Mitchell Dickens (a former Rennick staffer and Sunshine Coast region LNP chair) and Ms Li eliminated first. Mr Savanh was removed in the second round of voting.
Former state MP and Newman government minister Andrew Cripps – now Hinchinbrook Shire Council deputy mayor – won the fifth spot unopposed for the Nationals.
In a video circulated to state councillors this month, Mr Savanh said he was the right candidate to win the all-important millennial voting demographic, as well as ethnic communities.
In January, after confirming he would run again, Senator Rennick told The Australian he was not expecting the party to protect him, and believed every sitting member should be “scrutinised”.
There is no guarantee the LNP will win enough votes at the next federal election – due in 2025 – to win a third Senate seat in Queensland.
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