The Liberal Party in New South Wales: kickstarting the machine?

An earlier article in this series on the Liberal party in New South Wales (AQ July-August 2005) examined John Brogden's fall from the party leadership, attributing it in part to the growing factionalism of the party. A subsequent article (AQ September-October 2005) developed this theme by analyzing the composition the parliamentary party, predicting that a number of MPs from the 'wet' faction of the party were likely to be dumped in the current round of pre-selection contests. The first of these casualties surfaced with Patricia Forsyth's loss of pre-selection for the Legislative Council in late 2005 and it seems ever more likely that others will follow her. Now we extend the earlier analyses by examining the changing composition of the state executive of the party, the key institution of the extra-parliamentary wing. It seems clear that the 'right' of the party is in the ascendancy there to an unprecedented degree. Whether this makes the party more or less likely to be elected in the election due in March 2007 then becomes the central question to be answered.