No holds barred in factional beef

IT is tempting to sum up the messy contest between Peter Reith and Alan Stockdale this weekend for the presidency of the Liberal Party by paraphrasing Henry Kissinger's observation about university politicking: "The fight is so vicious because the stakes are so low."

Liberal presidents aren't paid, they don't have disproportionate voting rights and they face re-election every year. It is a thankless task that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy.

But the contest between Reith and Stockdale, and how it turns out, will be emblematic of everything that is right or wrong with the Liberal Party.

If Reith fails, the hard Right will have killed off one of its own simply because his focus is ideology, not power bases. If Reith succeeds, all Liberals will have a well-credentialled new advocate for a return to government at the next federal election.

The president can set the tone for the party, provide ideological ballast for the parliamentary leader and play a vital role in fundraising: a core business in the modern professional political age.

On these traditional criteria, Reith's value clearly outstrips that of Stockdale. Stockdale is a former state treasurer in Victoria, with close to zero profile elsewhere in the country (other than his email rants leaked to the media in recent weeks).

Competent during his parliamentary career, to be sure, Stockdale has been unsuccessful in lifting the fundraising base for the Liberal Party, despite its polling domination over Labor. His strength in the close contest with Reith is the support he has received from right-wing powerbrokers determined not to give up their narrow controlling grip on what is supposed to be a broadly based political movement.

The irony is that Reith has always been a creature of the Right, more policy activist than factional grandstander.

While the parliamentary Liberal Party sets policy, Reith's ability to argue the merits of that policy in the media or behind the scenes, speaking with donors and party members, is significant.

His close relationship with Tony Abbott (who was his junior minister in the industrial relations portfolio) also makes him well-placed to impress on the parliamentary leader the importance of balance between policy and political attack.

These are all obvious reasons, when a person of Reith's calibre puts their hand up for the thankless task of being president, he should be welcomed with open arms. Throw in that he was encouraged to stand by Abbott and any suggestion the two wouldn't work well together can be placed in the absurd basket.

Because Stockdale decided to contest the position, Abbott has had to stay out of the fray. Abbott's conservative roots preclude him from (mis)using his parliamentary position to advocate against an incumbent organisational colleague. But there is no denying the awkward situation that would present itself if Stockdale wins today. He wouldn't have the genuine confidence of the parliamentary leader or the four vice-presidents who wrote to Stockdale declaring they supported Reith's candidacy. The bullish efforts of the Right, led by outgoing senator Nick Minchin, to block the Reith bid for the presidency has emerged as just as important a reason Reith must succeed as the job he would do as president.

Minchin said of the four VPs' letter: "In my 32 years of full-time service to the Liberal Party, I have never seen an act of treachery quite like this." Other, perhaps, than the relentless media backgrounding against Malcolm Turnbull's leadership by Minchin supporters who didn't like the then leader's stand on the emissions trading scheme. What's that saying about a pot and a kettle?

Putting aside the conspiracy theories that Minchin wants to keep Stockdale as president so he can take over the post in 12 months, the real reason Minchin and the same faces who scuttled Turnbull's leadership in late 2009 don't want Reith as president is because they fear he will put the party (the whole party) ahead of narrow factional interests (theirs). They may have been right about Turnbull, but they are wrong in opposing Reith.

Since the hard Right flexed its muscle against Turnbull's plans to negotiate the passage of the ETS, it has sought to widen its influence, and Reith's arrival poses a threat to that. You see, Reith has been out of party politics long enough to be able to see the wood for the trees. He doesn't crave the presidency to wield power in the same way those closer to the parliamentary malaise do. It's that factional separation by a proven right-wing ideologue that has upset Liberal powerbrokers, so much so that they have even taken to accusing Reith, of all people, of being an agent of the Left inside the party.

What a ridiculous proposition. Reith is the man who reformed the waterfront, first championed a GST at the 1993 election as shadow treasurer, scuttled the bill of rights and, as defence minister, took the hardest of lines during the children overboard saga in 2001. That pedigree -- whether you agree with his actions or not -- should give him a lifetime free pass from being accused of being an agent of moderates (as if there are any left) inside the Liberal Party.

The Right's opposition to Reith says more about where the faction is at than about Reith's world view.

Those against Reith are concerned more about power than policy, and preserving Stockdale's puppet presidency preserves their power base within the organisational wing of the party. Reith wants to reform the party organisation through adjustments such as directly electing the president. Gee, I wonder why powerbrokers such as Minchin and his surviving acolytes in the Senate don't want to see that happen?

Party reform such as Reith wants will filter down through to preselections for parliament. It's no wonder those controlling things want to kill off Reith's bid.

At this point it is worth congratulating Abbott on his encouragement of Reith. He could have taken a "don't-rock-the-boat" stance, but he didn't. He understands the need for party reform.

Anti-Reith forces have put it around that Labor hopes Reith will be successful so they can re-engage the anti-Work Choices message: a last-minute bid to swing federal council votes behind Stockdale.Councillors would do well to remember Labor was also delighted when Abbott became leader because they thought he would be unable to lift the Coalition's fortunes. I wouldn't be voting for the Liberal Party presidency according to what Labor thinks will be a good political strategy, that's for sure.

Peter van Onselen is a Winthrop professor at the University of Western Australia.