Conservatives roll Pyne ally in anti-moderates blitz

Conservative Liberal Party forces have rolled a party official aligned to Christopher Pyne and Simon Birmingham.

South Australian Liberal MP Trish Worth has been ousted. Picture: John Feder

Conservative Liberal Party forces have rolled a senior party official aligned to cabinet ministers Christopher Pyne and Simon Birmingham in an assault on the moderate wing of the party.

The shock defeat for the re-election of one of the party’s vice-presidents and former Howard government MP Trish Worth came last night at the party’s ­annual meeting of its Federal Council. The push from conservative party members left senior moderate powerbrokers reeling as they believed they had sec­ured Ms Worth’s position.

But the conservative rank-and-file delegates used their numbers to oust Ms Worth, saying her ­recent public criticism of Tony ­Abbott could not go “unanswered”. “This should be a warning to any of the party’s elected officials who think they can publicly attack the parliamentary wing,” a conservative source told The Weekend Australian.

Another conservative source said Mr Pyne had not helped himself after last year’s “winner’s circle” remark at a private function, which conservatives took to be the South Australian MP gloating about the moderates having control of the government.

Senator Birmingham, who had taken the extraordinary step of scrutineering for Ms Worth, called for a recount when delegates voted 54 to 50 in favour of conservative NSW candidate Teena McQueen.

The power grab has delivered the four vice-president positions of the federal party to the conser­vative wing.

The moderates retain the Liberal Party federal presidency under former NSW premier Nick Greiner, who was re-elected ­unchallenged.

The 110 delegates to the Federal Council are made up of MPs and party members.

It also includes the 15-member federal executive.

In her pitch to delegates, Ms McQueen — the president of the Dobell Federal Electorate Conference — said she had been a party member for 30 years, and criticised the executive as having too many former MPs.

Ms Worth, who was the member for Adelaide from 1993 to 2004, told The Australian on Thursday that any comments she had made about Mr Abbott had been measured and not personal.