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Background: Branch stacking and other dirty tricks By Brenden Hills According to former Liberal Party member turned blogger Irfan Yusef, David Clarke aims to gain control of the non-aligned yet largely conservative middle ground votes in the NSW Liberal Party State Council, which consists of delegates from branches and state electorate offices. State Council delegates vote to elect members of the State Executive, and also are eligible to be drawn out of a hat in preselection ballots. In May of 2005 the right-faction won a narrow majority on the party’s 20-member State Executive and has also taken control of the Women’s Council and the Young Liberals. The Young Liberals, who were previously aligned with the moderates, are a major source of strength for Clarke’s faction with Young Liberals now groomed to become members of the right faction. The president of the NSW Young Liberals is automatically granted a place on the NSW State Executive. That title currently belongs to Alex Hawke, who is also a staffer to David Clarke. Unseating the remaining moderate MPs is still an important focus of the right in its movement towards unchallenged power in the party. By gaining control of the preselection process, the right’s factional warriors aim to control who is allowed into parliament for the Liberal Party. Branch stacking has become the most well-known and useful tool of the factional warriors in achieving this end. The ABC’s Four Corners program alleged that David Clarke has been involved in vote rigging by organizing the mass collection of blank signed ballot papers for the state executive elections. In 2005, the membership of the Liberal Party’s Cherrybrook branch had grown from 18 to 202 in a one-year period. Similar instances have been noted in the Dural branch where membership rose from 22 to 101. The Dural-Oakhill branch has almost doubled in size to 126 and the 12 Berowra branches have increased to having 800 members signed on. Long serving MP Patricia Forsythe had been public in her criticism of Clarke and the right-faction’s power grabbing techniques. Ms Forsythe told Stateline in 2005 prior to her preselection “I phoned a colleague yesterday and said I didn’t want my selection to be part of any factional deal. I’ll face my selection by going out to the ordinary members of the Liberal Party. My preselection will be a few weeks away and I think the people in the area won’t have a bar of what I think has emerged.” They did. And Ms Forsythe lost. Queanbeyan businessman Matthew Mason Cox won the vote 44 to 22. The Newcastle born Forsythe was made a target then a casualty during a preselection where the Right installed one of their own. Ms Forsythe had served the Liberal Party since 1968 and was a prominent member of the group. She was to serve the party until the March 2007 elections but has since quit politics early to take up a position with the NSW Chamber of Commerce. Further branch stacking activity in Hawkesbury has led many to believe that Steven Pringle, long time serving MP for the seat of Hawkesbury to be the next to have his head on the chopping block. Also at risk is the Liberal Member for Hornsby Judy Hopwood, who is a Moderate, although Mr Debnam has urged the party not to unseat her because the seat is marginal. |
