Malcolm Turnbull’s motion for reform to the NSW Liberal party has been passed by members at the party’s state council, while Tony Abbott’s has failed.
The former prime minister’s motion to allow plebiscites for candidate preselections was voted down at the state council in Sydney by 246 votes to 174 on Saturday, senior Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos said.
In a speech to the gathering, Turnbull extolled the virtues of the Liberal party but said: “Today our great party has set a course to be greater still.”
Abbott had proceeded with a motion allowing Liberal party members to choose candidates in New South Wales, despite Malcolm Turnbull and Mike Baird signalling they wanted the fraught issue of plebiscites to be decided at a party convention in the first half of next year.
Earlier in the week, as part of a number of public interventions challenging the prime minister, Abbott warned the process of party reform in NSW could fall victim to factional influence and inertia.
Following the result, Abbott said change to the party was “unstoppable”, hailing the prime minister and NSW premier’s successful motion for reform at the Liberal state council as a “giant step forward”.
A majority of members supported Turnbull and Baird’s motion for Abbott’s desired reform and others to be discussed at a Liberal party convention next year.
Speaking to reporters after Baird’s speech, Abbott dealt with questions about the failure of his motion by saying Turnbull actually supported the concept.
“The prime minister does support the principle of plebiscite preselections,” Abbott said.
“Premier Mike Baird said today that he supported the principle of plebiscite preselections – that’s what he would be working towards at the Liberal party people’s convention next year.”
Abbott said the reform to candidate preselection would be achieved and would result in “far more members and no factions”.
He said he agreed with several Liberal MP colleagues who gave speeches at Saturday’s meeting, saying that without reform, the party was in “long-term secular decline”.
Abbott said it had taken a long time to get the idea of plebiscites for candidate preselection on the agenda of the NSW Liberal “powers that be” because they were happy with the status quo.
But he said after today, change was imminent.
“Reform is unstoppable and I am very, very confident that early next year we will revitalise our party, we will empower the membership, and that will give us a very strong foundation on which to advance to the next federal election.”
