On 5 April 2022 the Liberal Party of Australia (NSW Division) Executive was composed of: State President Philip Ruddock, State Director (in attendance) Chris Stone, Urban Vice-Presidents Penny George, Country and Regional Vice-Presidents Tobias Lehmann & Aileen MacDonald Female Vice-President Mary-Lou Jarvis, Young Liberal President De Yi Wu, Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Party Scott Morrison MP (and from time to time his representative Alex Hawke MP), Leader of the State Parliamentary Party Dominic Perrottet MP, Urban Representatives James Wallace, Matthew Hana, Chantelle Fornari-Orsmond, Martin Zaiter, Sally Betts, Zac Miles, Michelle Byrne, Sammy Elmir & Jacqui Munro (replacing Matthew Camenzuli who was expelled from the Liberal Party on or about 6 April 2022 for bringing the legal action, Camenzuli v Morrison), Country Representatives Michelle Bishop, Patrick Doherty, Mark Croxford, James Owen, Chair of Convention Committee and Director of Policy Engagement Alex Dore and Treasurer Mark Baillie.
A battle had been brewing for some time between the Federal Liberal Party Executive, the NSW Liberal Party Executive and state local party branches over the 2018 changes to the NSW Division Constitution which included the right to state branch plebiscites. These changes also allowed the federal leader of the Liberal Party a guaranteed seat on the executive.
The first hint of factional fighting and preselection battles came to light in the local government arena with Diaz v Ruddock; Attie v Ruddock and Zaiter v Ruddock in July 2021.
The open stoush widened and had developed by February 2022 into Camenzuli v Hawke. Followed by Morrison & Ors v Camenzuli & Ors; Attorney-General of the Commonwealth v Camenzuli & Ors, heard by the High Court of Australia in March 2022. The High Court remitted the case to its jurisdiction and then promptly remitted it back to NSW Court of Appeal – given that no difficulty was found to exist in the hearing schedule in the state court.
On 5 April 2022 in Camenzuli v Morrison the NSW Supreme Court, Court of Appeal, ruled that the Federal Liberal Party Executive had the power to intervene in the NSW Division’s candidate preselection process and take control of the selection of candidates.
The 12 electorates in question being Farrer, Mitchell, North Sydney, Hughes, Parramatta, Fowler, Grayndler, Newcastle, Warringah, Greenway, Eden-Monaro and McMahon. Candidate selection and endorsement was by a three person federal committee comprising Scott Morrison, Alex Hawke and Trent Zimmerman and occurred ahead of the 5 April judgment.
Subsequent to the 5 April judgment Morrison ordered the expulsion of Matthew Camenzuli from the Liberal Party. Mr. Camenzuli is appealing this expulsion.
Legal proceedings in the matter of the usurped state candidate preselection process has not gone away however.
In MATTHEW CAMENZULI v THE HON. SCOTT MORRISON MP First Respondent, CHRISTINE McDIVEN AM Second Respondent, THE HON. DOMINIC PERROTTET MP Third Respondent, THE HON. ALEX HAWKE MP Fourth Respondent, THE HON. SUSSAN LEY MP Fifth Respondent, TRENT ZIMMERMAN MP Sixth Respondent, THE HON. PHILIP RUDDOCK AO Seventh Respondent, THE HON. JOHN OLSEN AO Eighth Respondent on 7 April 2022 the High Court of Australia decided the timetable for hearing of oral arguments in this Special Leave To Appeal Application, commencing 4pm on Friday 8 April 2022.
Apparently Morrison et al intend to argue that Camenzuli no longer has standing before the Court as he is not now a member of the Liberal Party and will ask that the application be dismissed.
Scott Morrison's dysfunctional need to control every aspect of the Liberal Party of Australia is ripping this 77 year-old conservative political party apart in a very public manner.
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