Mark Speakman (left) is trying to have NSW figures installed on a committee empowered by Peter Dutton to run the NSW division.Credit:Kate Geraghty,Alex Ellinghausen
It was triggered by thestate branch’s failure last month to register 140 candidates for local council elections but has become a flashpoint in the conflict between the state’s moderates and a conservative faction led by figures such as shadow treasurer Angus Taylor and former prime minister Tony Abbott.
The letter is also an attempt by conservatives to avoid moderates gridlocking the committee charged with running the state party ahead of the federal election by appointing two more members.
Speakman’s moderates nominated former MPs Fiona Scott and Peta Seaton to the committee that the Liberals’ federal executive has appointed to run the state branch of the party. It already has two conservative Victorian members on it,former senator Richard Alston,82,and ex-state treasurer Alan Stockdale,79. Moderate former NSW state MP Rob Stokesdeclined to participate.
Dutton and other federal executive members will meet on Friday morning to decide on NSW’s request to add members,which represents a de facto vote on whether NSW moderate members have a say over the division’s affairs or whether full power will remain with the Victorians.
Former federal Liberal Party president and one-time minister Richard Alston in June 2016.Credit:Christopher Pearce
Adding two new members would turn it into an even-numbered committee,leading to likely “gridlock and more disfunction[sic]“,according to the email.
Taylor and other right faction members vigorously opposed the addition of members at the meeting,according to sources who spoke anonymously to comply with party rules.