Nine NSW Liberals and a former ACT senator walk into a preselection race

Ten Liberals are vying to fill the Senate spot vacated by former foreign affairs minister Marise Payne, with former ACT senator Zed Seselja and former Wentworth MP Dave Sharma eyeing a return to Canberra.

An unusually large field of candidates has nominated for the NSW position including a bevy of former state and federal politicians, a former RSL president, a researcher for the Lowy Institute, and three lawyers.

Former ACT Liberal senator Zed Seselja, pictured with former foreign minister Marise Payne.Credit: Getty Images

Seselja is plotting a political comeback through an unfamiliar state. He rose to prominence through the ACT: first as leader of the party’s territory opposition and then as a senator after crossing into federal politics in 2013.

The 46-year-old conservative rose to become minister for the Pacific under Scott Morrison but was turfed out of parliament by independent David Pocock during the 2022 federal election.

One Liberal source speaking on the condition of anonymity said despite the wide field, the preselection was likely to be a two-horse race between Seselja and Andrew Constance.

Several conservatives were vying for the warring faction’s votes, including Monica Tudehope, the adviser to former NSW premier Dominic Perrottet and the daughter of NSW opposition treasury spokesman Damien Tudehope.

Former Legislative Council member Lou Amato – ousted from Macquarie Street after a factional deal to insert more women into the upper house – nominated; as did Jess Collins, a conservative backed by right-wing powerbroker, Anthony Roberts.

After running third in the party’s last preselection in May, Liberal insiders believed Collins, a research fellow with the Lowy Institute, had turned her attention to ousting teal independent MP Kylea Tink in North Sydney.

Liberal sources said she would need to decide relatively soon whether she would run for the senate or in North Sydney.

With the preselection to be held on Sunday, November 26, conservatives were hoping the long list of nominees would draw a crowd of delegates big enough to stop Constance, who is considered the frontrunner.

Sharma, the highly regarded moderate, surprised some Liberal insiders with his late decision to enter the race. His nomination could complicate matters for Constance, who Liberal insiders expected to command almost the entirety of the faction’s vote.

The exit of prominent Voice No campaigner Nyunggai Warren Mundine from contention after a disastrous appearance on ABC’s Insiders program threw conservatives into disarray, with three candidates in contention: Seselja, Collins and Tudehope.

A former RSL NSW president James Brown, who was endorsed by former prime minister John Howard during the last preselection to replace former Liberal senator Jim Molan, has also nominated.

Lesser known nominees include lawyer Pallavi Sinha, barrister Ishita Sethi, and solicitor Nimalan Rutnam.

After months of speculation, Payne announced her retirement from politics after 26 years in the Senate in early September.

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