Right looks to have sewn up key positions in Canberra Liberals as reform push comes to nought

The reform push in the Canberra Liberals appears to have petered out with Management Committee nominations for next week’s Annual General Meeting pointing to the Right retaining most if not all of the positions.

A petition launched by the reform-minded Menzies Group had called for a clean-out of the positions to put the party back on an electable path after May’s disastrous federal election result in which sitting senator Zed Seselja fell to Independent David Pocock.

But the nomination list shows only three Menzies Group candidates – Sam Fairall-Lee against former political adviser Liam Develin; accountant James Daniels challenging longstanding Treasurer Jimmy Kiploks, a former defence adviser to Scott Morrison; and Cathie Humphries, the wife of former senator Gary Humphries, who is taking on former president Arthur Potter for the Federal Rural and Regional representative role.

But the Group has failed to furnish a moderate alternative to incumbent and Hard Right President John Cziesla.

Unaligned Michael Keating, who runs the political newsletter Inside Canberra, will oppose Mr Cziesla, but is given little chance.

It had been thought the so-called Progressive or Pragmatic Right’s Candice Burch, a former MLA most known for her election signs being tampered with by a former Young Liberal member, would take on Mr Cziesla.

But she will stand unopposed for the Vice-President’s position, part of a deal between the Hard or pro-Seselja Right and the Gerry Wheeler led Pragmatic Right faction to sew up most of the positions.

She defeated the Seselja-backed Arthur Potter by a single vote for the Vice President’s casual vacancy at a branch meeting last month.

At the time it was hailed by some as signs of a new era for the party.

Mr Keating has also thrown his hat in the ring for the Finance Committee chair against another longstanding committee member and former candidate Robert Gunning.

Nominees for the four Policy Committee members are Young Liberal and public servant Darcy Bee-Hickman, another Young Liberal Ramon Bouckaet from the Wheeler faction, Patrick Buchan, and Lilian Law who worked in then Senator Seselja’s office.

Sources say the Menzies Group candidates and Mr Keating have little hope of defeating their Right opponents, many of whom go back to the Seselja coup against Mr Humphries in 2013.

Manoeuvring ahead of Wednesday’s nomination deadline is believed to have been intense, with some party members, including a sitting MLA, allegedly warned off nominating certain candidates or standing.

It is understood Mr Potter was told not to nominate for a senior role.

The AGM will be held next Wednesday evening at the Canberra Deakin Football Club, before the imminent release of a review into the federal campaign and result led by former leader of the Liberal Party of Western Australia Dr Mike Nahan and former Victorian Liberal Senator Helen Kroger.

Some members believe this is to avoid any embarrassment for incumbents, such as Mr Cziesla who blamed the media and the long-term, persistent and well-funded campaign to unseat Mr Sesleja.

The campaign was a costly one for the Canberra Liberals, who are believed to have overspent by $64,000 in the bid to fend off the successful Pocock challenge.

Despite that defeat, which meant no ACT Liberal representation in the Federal Parliament, and a sixth consecutive loss in the Legislative Assembly elections, it appears the appetite for change has dried up.

Sources say Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee, a moderate, wants the infighting to stop and a united front with two years to go until the 2024 elections, and even threatened to quit if it didn’t.

There also is believed to be positioning going on for the next Senate pre-selection, with Mr Seselja considering a comeback and others seeking support for a tilt.

But it seems that the Canberra Liberals will go into 2024 with much the same management team as before.

One insider said there was no sign that the party was refreshing itself or was willing to bring in new talent.