Liberal members should vote on NSW preselection reforms, says Sinodinos
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Version 0 of 1. Cabinet secretary Arthur Sinodinos has called for all members of the New South Wales Liberal party to been given a say on reforms which would open up preselection processes for MPs. If passed, the reforms, first recommended in John Howard’s reform report in 2014, would mean that every member would get a vote for the preselection of their local MPs. NSW remains one of only two state divisions of the Liberal party that do not routinely allow each party member a vote on preselections. Instead, candidates for parliamentary seats are chosen by a small core of delegates, including state executive members and influential members who are also lobbyists. Sinodinos, who is a former president of the NSW party and a close ally of the prime minister, said similar reforms had already taken place in Victoria and they had “worked pretty well”. “I believe there should be a vote of the division as a whole, all of the membership of the division, as to what the changes will be because then I think they will stick,” Sinodinos said. “Doing it through state council is one thing but I think the membership as a whole [should vote] and I think we need to speed up the process of having plebiscites.” Malcolm Turnbull, Tony Abbott, Mike Baird and Liberal frontbencher Angus Taylor have all publicly supported a more open preselection process. On Saturday Abbott addressed a “democratic convention” to push the reforms and Turnbull and Baird provided video messages to an audience estimated to be around 500 members. While Abbott emerged has as a strong supporter since he was deposed, he dragged his feet on reforms during his prime ministership. On Sunday Sinodinos said the plebiscite reform had to go hand-in-hand with changes to stop potential members from being rejected so that existing members could not block others to maintain control over a branch. Turnbull’s video message to the convention was taken from an address for the retirement of former Nationals leader Warren Truss. Turnbull had praised the National party’s grass roots approach and said parties needed to give members more of an opportunity to have their opinions heard and valued. “[Members] need to know that their views are important and all members are given a fair say in both policy formulation and the decision-making processes of their party,” Turnbull said. “That means we have to explore the need to hold more open party forums, more frequent and direct access to MPs at meetings, it means more open delegate selection and preselection process.” But there remains fierce opposition amongst Turnbull’s own moderate support base which controls the NSW party on the grounds that it will encourage branch-stacking – though no members would voice their opposition on the record. It is against the party rules for ordinary members to speak about party matters. But Walter Villatora, president of Abbott’s Warringah federal electorate conference who organised the convention, told the audience that arguments against reform on the grounds it would allow factions to exert more control were nonsense. “Can someone explain to me how the opponents of democratic reform can think that it is easier to exert control over 8,000 members across the entire state than 165 members that have been appointed over many years?” Villatora said. “It’s time to get real and apply primary school maths. The more members that have a say, the harder it is to manipulate or branch stack the system – this is where the shift occurs from patronage to merit.” The convention also heard from Victorian Liberal state executive member Marcus Bastiaan, who wrote in the Spectator on Saturday that since the state instituted the reforms in 2008, party membership was flourishing. At the recent federal election, the Liberal party won their only Labor gain in Victoria while Bastiaan said the NSW division “suffered the party’s worst result – a seven-seat electoral wipeout”. Bastiaan likened the involvement of lobbyists in the NSW party to the recent donation scandal that forced Labor senator Sam Dastyari to resign from the frontbench. “Whether Dastyari’s actions were explicitly legal or not is secondary to the perception of wrongdoing,” Bastiaan wrote. “The mere perception was sufficient cause for the public to lose faith and trust in Dastyari. In an era where a corporate brand matters almost as much shareholder returns, companies found to be employing lobbyists involved in the blatant manipulation of major political parties may well receive a similar fate to Dastyari. “NSW leadership figures have an opportunity to draw a line in the sand and embrace a reform agenda as Victoria and other states have done. The Victorian example demonstrates that democratisation grows membership, increases fundraising capacity, develops campaign volunteerism and promotes excellence in candidates. Centralisation has proven to do the opposite. “The consequences of continuing with the status quo are dire and will affect the party’s electoral outlook in the years to come.” |