Christopher Pyne faces Liberal Party investigation

SA Liberals are pushing for an investigation into senior Turnbull government minister Christopher Pyne.

Defence Industry Minister Christopher Pyne. Picture: AAP

South Australian Liberals are pushing for an investigation into senior Turnbull government minister Christopher Pyne amid allegations he tried to undermine Liberal MP Tony Pasin at the 2013 election.

A complaint was lodged with the South Australian division of the Liberal Party last night, calling on the state executive to ­investigate allegations that Mr Pyne asked Wattle Range Mayor Peter Gandolfi to run as an independent against Mr Pasin, a factional rival.

Under the South Australian Liberal Party’s constitution, the state executive has the power to terminate the membership of a member found to be “guilty of any act or conduct detrimental to the interests of the party”.

The request for an investigation into Mr Pyne’s alleged intervention in the seat of Barker was sent by the Barker Federal Electorate Convention president ­Stuart Andrew to state party director Sascha Meldrum and state president John Olsen. Mr Andrew told The Australian that the Defence Industry Minister’s conduct needed to be closely examined.

“Until the story in (yesterday’s) Australian, I and the Barker FEC were unaware of the allegations and I’m aware that, whilst they are just allegations, I think that the state executive should pursue the allegations and conduct its own ­investigation,” Mr Andrew said.

The Australian revealed yesterday that Mr Pyne faced fresh claims that he rang Mr Gandolfi on June 22, 2013, and asked him to run as an independent in the federal election against Mr Pasin, a conservative, who was the pre­selected Liberal candidate.

Mr Pyne has denied making the request, putting him at odds with Mr Gandolfi, who claims to remember the phone call.

Mr Gandolfi said last night: “The story published in The Australian yesterday accurately ­reflected what I recall.’’

Some Liberal MPs are arguing that Mr Pyne could have breached section 17.11 of the party’s state constitution, which calls on the division to support the endorsed candidate. The section was added to prevent Liberals from running against endorsed candidates, and was introduced after state Liberal MP Stan Evans, a conservative, challenged fellow Liberal Dean Brown, a moderate, for preselection in the safe seat of Davenport ahead of the 1985 election and lost.

Mr Evans, who was still a Liberal member, then ran as an independent Liberal against Mr Brown and stole the seat from him.

Mr Pyne indicated he was not paying attention to the request for an investigation. “I’m focused on defence industry. Not internal party machinations,” he said.

Australian Conservatives leader Cory Bernardi, a former South Australian Liberal senator, unloaded on his former colleague, describing him as the “most destructive, cancerous growth in the Liberal Party”.

“I’ve known him since he was seven, he was a dreadful bloke when he was seven, and I tell you now, he’s getting worse,” Senator Bernardi told Sky News last night.

Mr Pyne has also been under mounting pressure over his conduct following separate claims he told Liberal MPs and party officials at a September 14 meeting he would seek South Australian colleague Nicolle Flint’s seat of Boothby if a looming redistribution abolished his seat of Sturt or redrew it unfavourably. A spokesman for Mr Pyne said the claim was a “fabrication” but clarified the minister had also indicated publicly that he would “seek to represent whatever seat contains the people he represents now”.

Mr Pyne has also come under scrutiny following allegations that GetUp! chose to “run-dead” in key moderate seats at the last election. Some commentators including Tony Abbott’s former chief of staff Peta Credlin have suggested some Liberals may have struck a deal with the activist group in order to preserve moderate Liberal MPs.

GetUp! national director Paul Oosting said the group evaluated “politicians and parties on the values and issues they stand for and against”. He said GetUp! was formed with “no involvement from any political party” and that more than 30,000 people were surveyed and house parties were held to workshop its approach.

“It is very clear to Australians which MPs belong to the hard-right faction of the Coalition,” he said. “They’re the ones who attack multiculturalism, oppose marriage equality, oppose clean technology and champion neoliberal economic ideology.

Liberal senator Eric Abetz yesterday said it would be “exceptionally disappointing for any Liberal to be co-operating with GetUp!”