Liberal Cook seat pre-selection delayed by court action – Scott Morrison involved
A report in the Sun Herald on Sunday says that a late night court hearing on Friday night blocked Saturday morning’s planned federal Liberal Party preselection ballot for the southern Sydney seat of Cook.
Candidate David Coleman, a magazine publishing executive locked in a battle against high-profile candidate Scott Morrison and others, launched the extraordinary action late on Friday, with Mr Coleman seeking to halt the preselection vote, due to be held at Cronulla at 9:00am on Saturday, because selectors in two branches had been ruled out.
With eight candidates running for preselection and 160 preselectors involved in the ballot, the estimated 15 to 20 votes in the two branches would have a major impact on the outcome. However, senior Liberal Party sources agree it is almost unheard of for a preselection candidate to take the party to court.
The injunction was granted in the Supreme Court late on Friday night and the dispute has been listed for hearing in the Supreme Court on Monday with a new date for the ballot to be set once the matter is resolved.
The unusual events followed developments in which it was revealed that the Remuneration Tribunal raised concerns about the $332,000 payout to Mr Morrison, a former Liberal Party State Director, received when he resigned as Tourism Australia boss last August after major arguments and disagreements with Tourism Minister Fran Bailey.
In a letter to Tourism Australia Chairman Tim Fischer, Tribunal President John Conde stated he believed the payout should have been “less than $120,000”.
The Mole says that at the time of Morrison’s departure from Tourism Australia, there was very extensive industry comment about the quantum of Morrison’s payout, after what are understood to be very substantial disagreements with the Minister for Tourism, Fran Bailey.
It is also thought that Prime Minister Howard was directly involved in Morrison’s appointment as chief of Tourism Australia and when it was clear that Morrison and Minister Bailey’s very difficult relationship was affecting the organisation and the industry, Howard had no alternative but to back his Minister, not Morrison.
In addition, there has been conjecture that the preselection of Morrison to a safe Liberal seat was also part of what might be called the “unofficial” departure package.
It was also alleged Liberal Party officials were looking into the background of another contender, Michael Towke, who recently changed his name from Taouk, with Mr Towke, a former eastern suburbs businessman and one-time ALP member, having signed up a large number of new members to the Miranda branch of Cook.
Other candidates include Optus executive Paul Fletcher, barrister Mark Speakman, and Peter Tynan, who hails from a well-known business family in the Sutherland Shire.
Cook is being vacated by moderate Liberal Bruce Baird, a former tourism minister and very well known industry personality, who is retiring.
A report by The Mole and The Sun-Herald
John Alwyn-Jones
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