The court challenge had attempted to overturn a federal intervention in the troubled NSW division and the preselection of three sitting Liberal MPs by a troika of Mr Morrison,NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and a former party president,Christine McDiven.
Also at stake was the endorsement of nine other Liberal candidates for NSW seats – some of them winnable for the government – by the same three-person committee last weekend,bypassing local branch members.
The NSW Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Camenzuli’s application on Tuesday,ruling it was an internal political party dispute that was not justiciable – meaning it was not capable of being arbitrated by the court.
Even if the High Court agreed to hear an appeal and decided the matter was justiciable,the Court of Appeal made it clear it would not accept Mr Camenzuli’s claims.
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“In the interests of finality and against the possibility that we are wrong”,the court assessed Mr Camenzuli’s claims on the substance of the dispute and said that if it were entitled to rule on the validity of the claims,it would reject the challenge.
Court of Appeal judge John Basten said the federal Liberal Party’s constitution conferred upon the federal executive “a broad power” to intervene in a state division,including the endorsement of candidates. The resolution of the special committee led by Mr Morrison to endorse the three sitting MPs should therefore stand,he said.