The Liberals are hunting for another candidate to join a federal takeover of the party’s NSW division as the fallout from a failure to nominate candidates in an upcoming election descends into “farce”.
State opposition leader Mark Speakman has admitted the decision to identify ex-minister Rob Stokes as one of three figures to oversee the state party’s affairs for the next 10 months had hit a “hitch”.
Mr Stokes said he did not know he was going to be picked and did not want the role after he was announced as one of the interim trio.
It was the latest in a series of bungles for the party’s NSW division, whose federal executive decided to intervene on Tuesday after administrative failures and widespread factional infighting.
The takeover was triggered by a failure in August to nominate more than 140 candidates for statewide local government elections on September 14.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese seized on the Liberals’ internal woes, describing the failure to nominate candidates as a “debacle” followed by the misstep in announcing Mr Stokes, who they “forgot to ask”.
“This is a farce,” he said.
But a more-magnanimous Premier Chris Minns said he was not in the business of offering too much advice to political opponents and he expected the Liberals would recover.
“All I would say is … the public hate it when you focus on yourselves and they just think it’s a complete indulgence rather than focusing on the public,” he said.
Mr Speakman confused matters further by suggesting he spoke privately with Mr Stokes about joining the proposed committee, contradicting claims the former NSW minister was unaware the role was a possibility.
“It was before the federal executive’s meeting (on Tuesday), he indicated to me a happiness to serve and I conveyed that to federal identities,” Mr Speakman said on Wednesday, adding he did not know Mr Stokes would be nominated at the meeting.
Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton disagreed, repeatedly asserting the NSW division put forward Mr Stokes’ name.
He said the federal branch had to make the NSW division “functional” again.
“The way it was operating was completely unacceptable to me and we took a decision at the federal executive to put in place a council of wise elders,” he said.
He also pointed out federal administrators had previously taken over the Labor party in Victoria.
Former federal communications minister Richard Alston and ex-Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale were expected to join Mr Stokes on the committee.
Mr Stokes’ replacement would be announced “in due course”, Mr Dutton said.
One NSW Liberal MP, speaking to AAP on the condition of anonymity, described the inclusion of Mr Stokes on the proposed committee as a “massive surprise”.
Mr Stokes has taken a job at Macquarie University’s law school since leaving politics before the 2023 state election.
The committee will replace the party’s de-facto board, the 26-member state executive, which moderate powerbroker Don Harwin had led.
It follows an urgent review by the party’s former federal director Brian Loughnane after deep-seated factional rifts beset the party.
Former longtime NSW Liberal official Chris Stone will fill a temporary role following the sacking of state director Richard Shields.
Among his first tasks is overseeing by-election campaigns in three Liberal-held seats in northern Sydney in October.
Reports into the 2022 federal and 2023 state elections identified concerns about internal party structures including the state executive, and deep frustration in its inability to make timely and necessary decisions.
