Having slumped to perhaps their lowest point, Western Australia’s Liberals are gathering for what is being dubbed the most important meeting in the party’s history.
Major reforms are to be debated across two days at the party’s state conference, which got underway in Perth on Saturday.
WA’s Liberal Party is facing an “existential threat”, according to former leader Mike Nahan.Credit:Trevor Collens
Federal leader Peter Dutton will be a notable absentee, with his deputy Sussan Ley set to address MPs instead.
But the focus will be squarely on whether warring members can agree on changes designed to help restore a severely damaged party brand.
The Liberals suffered a 10 per cent swing in WA at the federal election, losing five seats as Labor claimed majority government.
At last year’s state election, the party was reduced to just two lower house MPs amid internal turmoil over alleged branch-stacking and the controlling of preselections by factions.
Conference attendees are being urged to support a motion for MPs to be preselected through plebiscites of party members in each electorate.
The proposal, spearheaded by party president Richard Wilson, is expected to be debated on Saturday.
Wilson has dubbed the conference the most important meeting in the party’s history, saying the Liberals needed to demonstrate change to win back voters.
A damning review last year found the WA Liberal Party had become a political “wasteland”, in part because of the corrosive influence of factions.
The report said the party’s financial viability was at risk because of an exodus of corporate funding.
Former party leader Dr Mike Nahan this week warned the WA Liberals faced an “existential threat”.
Along with former ministerial colleague Norman Moore, Nahan has pushed for change under the banner of the Liberal Reform Coalition.
They have been heavily critical of conservative Liberal powerbrokers, using newspaper advertisements to urge members to “take back control of the party”.
Moore on Friday confirmed party elders would move amendments against the proposed plebiscite model.
“We don’t think that it’s tight enough and we’ll be doing our best on the weekend to try and amend the president’s proposal so that we actually reduce the number of outside delegates through the preselection process,” he told ABC radio.
The plan to amend the reform is viewed as risky given it will only pass with the support of 75 per cent of conference attendees.
AAP
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