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Former prime minister Scott Morrison appointed himself to five secret portfolios.Credit:Nine

John Howard last week said it was “not in the interests of the Liberal Party” to have a byelection for Morrison’s seat of Cook,in Sydney’s south.

Another significant reason that senior Liberal figures want Morrison to stay put is that several potential contenders for Cook are in state parliament,including attorney-general and member for Cronulla Mark Speakman.

While Speakman would not entertain a run for Cook before the state poll,members of the moderate faction would urge him to switch to federal politics if NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet loses the election.

Asked whether he would rule out running for Cook,Speakman told this masthead:“It’s an honour to serve as MP for Cronulla and I intend to nominate for Liberal Party preselection for that seat when nominations open shortly.”

Other candidates for the seat could include long-serving state MP Melanie Gibbons,Sutherland Shire mayor Carmelo Pesce and party member Alex Cooke.

There is a push among many members to preselect a woman in the seat.

It is expected that the party’s moderate and right factions would battle it out in any preselection,with the moderates holding a slight edge among the party membership locally. Morrison’s centre-right faction,controlled by former immigration minister Alex Hawke,would struggle to get a candidate up,according to multiple sources from both the right and moderates.

The party also doesn’t want a byelection in Cook to serve as a distraction in the lead-up to the state poll,and is also concerned it could lose the seat to an independent at this point in the political cycle.

Morrison suffered a 6.6 per cent swing against him in the seat at the election,but it is still considered a safe seat on a 12.4 per cent margin.

Several figures close to Morrison insisted that the former prime minister has not yet made up his mind about when he would leave parliament. Either way,they said he intends to ride out the controversy surrounding hisfive secret portfolios.

Morrison is said to be confident that any inquiries into his portfolio appointments will find no illegality or breaches of ministerial codes of conduct.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will receive advice on Monday from the Commonwealth Solicitor-General over whether there was any illegality,and then will decide whether to order a wider inquiry into the controversy.

Albanese on Friday chided his predecessor formaking light of the matter by posting a series of memes on social media making fun of himself over the saga.

A spokesperson for Morrison said the member for Cook “knows the issues are important but at the same time,he was happy to join in on the joke at his own expense”.

Morrison was last week forced to apologise to former colleagues Josh Frydenberg,Karen Andrews and Mathias Cormann for keeping them in the dark about the portfolio appointments. Andrews,the former home affairs minister,called for him to immediately quit parliament.

Some figures close to Morrison speculated that he could see out the year and then decide not to return after the Christmas break,which would force a byelection before the state poll.

But they suggested that last week’s saga might mean he stays on longer so that he can ride out the storm while still in parliament.

Morrison has been linked to a role with the National Rugby League promoting the game in the Pacific. Last month he denied he had held talks with the NRL,dismissing it as “just a bit of pub talk”.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley.Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.

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