Federal Immigration Minister, Alex Hawke, will head to the Supreme Court after the Liberal Party of NSW launched a legal challenge to stop its federal counterpart from intervening in grassroots pre-selection processes.
The internal feud hinges on the fact that the NSW Liberal Party was supposed to meet by November 30 last year to elect the members of the executive but, due to the Omicron outbreak, the meeting never happened.
According to ABC News, NSW executive members are blaming Mr Hawke for stalling and not attending meetings in an attempt to run the clock down and push the executives out.
READ MORE: Liberals try to force Alex Hawke MP to end impasse over election candidates.
Mr Hawke is Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s representative on the state executive committee.
If the state executive loses the case, NSW’s branches could be stripped of the power to choose their own candidates as it goes into federal hands. This means Mr Morrison would likely get a much bigger say in grassroots pre-selections.
As it stands, Cabinet Ministers Mr Hawke and Sussan Ley, as well as MP Trent Zimmerman, are still waiting to be endorsed just three months out from the federal election.
Source: ABC News.
