Latest news with #NSWLiberalParty
News.com.au
2 days ago
- Politics
- News.com.au
Liberals still considering challenge on Bradfield election loss, says James Paterson
Coalition senator James Paterson says the NSW Liberal Party is still deciding whether to challenge the outcome of the prized Sydney seat of Bradfield, adding that he hopes Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian will be included in the 42nd parliament. Despite leading the initial count by eight votes, Liberal candidate Gisele Kapterian lost to Climate 200 backed independent Nicolette Boele by just 26 votes in the ensuing recount. The state branch will have until 40 days after the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) returns the writs, which the body must do before July 9. Speaking to the ABC on Sunday, Senator Paterson said it would be a matter for the NSW Liberal branch as well as Ms Kapterian, and said no decision has been made as of yet. 'I understand the NSW Liberal Party is reviewing our legal options and I really hope that we can find a way to have Giselle Kapterian in the parliament in this term because she's exactly the kind of person that would make the Liberal Party better, the parliament better and our country better,' he said. 'She's got great insights, great professional experience, she's a person I hope to be playing a big role in the future of our party. 'But it will be up to the NSW division and then ultimately if we do decide to make any application, the Court of Disputed Returns to decide that.' Senator Paterson also said a potential challenge wouldn't necessarily result in a by-election. He pointed to the 2007 election result of McEwen where a Labor challenge at the Court of Disputed Returns focused on the validity of the informal ballots. However the Court ultimately dismissed the case and awarded the seat to then Liberal MP Fran Bailey. The former Salesforce executive has also been given the assistant shadow portfolios for communications, and technology and the digital economy, and her loss would trigger a minor shadow cabinet shuffle. As recently as Thursday, incumbent Bradfield MP Nicolette Boele confirmed she had yet to receive a concession call from Ms Kapterian. Considerations behind a potential challenge will be based on the difference in the total number of votes counted between the first and second count, and the fact about 170 previously informal ballot papers had been reclassified and allowed in the recount. A Liberal source also noted that the two counts produced two different votes, with the difference in both counts making up less than 0.02 per cent of the total number of ballots cast across the electorate. Speaking on Sky, Tim Wilson, who is the only Liberal challenger who won a seat from a teal independent, credited his campaign win to running a consistent 'big, bold and ambitious' three-year campaign. 'We captured their sense of hope and aspiration for themselves and their families, and we did it on the basis that people understood that they weren't just voting on the direction of the community … they were also deciding partly the future direction of the Liberal Party, (and) increasingly also the direction of Australia as well,' he said. Following his ousting from the Melbourne seat of Goldstein in 2022, Mr Wilson won the seat back from Zoe Daniels in a precarious count which saw both sides declare themselves the victor before the AEC finalised its count.
AU Financial Review
5 days ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
NSW Liberal Party takeover shaping up as Sussan Ley's next big test
Factional bosses are pushing Opposition Leader Sussan Ley to end the federal takeover of the NSW Liberal Party, setting up a second test of her leadership in as many months as she tries to manage two warring factions. Ley on Wednesday stepped in to rebuke one of the committee administrators, former Victorian treasurer Alan Stockdale, for saying female party members had become 'so assertive' their male counterparts needed protection.
AU Financial Review
6 days ago
- Politics
- AU Financial Review
Ley rebukes ex-president's comment on ‘assertive' women in Lib ranks
Former federal Liberal Party president Alan Stockdale told a meeting of female members in NSW that women were 'assertive' and suggested male members may need to be protected. Stockdale, a member of a three-person federal panel appointed to run the NSW Liberal Party, said the remark – made to a meeting of the NSW Liberal Women's Council on Tuesday evening – was a joke and expressed regret that 'people felt disrespected'. But it drew a rebuke from federal Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, the first female leader of the parliamentary party, who issued a statement shortly after Stockdale's comments were reported. 'There is nothing wrong with being an assertive woman, in fact I encourage assertive women to join the Liberal Party,' the statement said. 'The Liberal Party must reflect, respect and represent modern Australia and that means recognising the strength, merit and leadership of the women in our ranks.' Stockdale, a former treasurer of Victoria, along with the two other members of the administrative committee, Victorian Richard Alston and Peta Seaton from NSW attended the women's council meeting to discuss consultation on a new constitution for NSW which they hope will reverse the party's membership decline. The trio, appointed in September after the NSW party's failure to nominate dozens of candidates for local council elections, wants to stay on beyond the June 30 expiry date of the federal takeover of the party to change the constitution. On Tuesday evening at women's council the admin committee faced a barrage of questions, including one on the importance of women's representation in the party and quotas, multiple attendees told The Australian Financial Review. Four sources, granted anonymity due to the party's ban on discussing internal matters, confirmed that Stockdale responded by labelling women 'assertive'. 'Alan Stockdale suggested that women of the party were getting a little bit too assertive, and he was worried we might get into the position that we need reverse quotas,' said one attendee, who took a contemporaneous note of the remark. 'If it was a joke then he misread the room – the response was disbelief.' A second Liberal source who took a contemporaneous note said Stockdale replied: 'I think women are sufficiently assertive now that we should be giving some thought to whether we need to protect men's involvement.'
Sydney Morning Herald
23-05-2025
- Politics
- Sydney Morning Herald
$2 billion and counting: More headaches looming for fugitive developer Jean Nassif
Before the ICAC launched the investigation in early 2023, Nassif had been at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry linking him to alleged NSW Liberal Party branch stacking and impropriety at The Hills Shire Council. 'When branch-stacking activities are linked to collusion with developers, they are not merely a distortion of democratic processes, they could amount to serious corruption,' the parliamentary report found. Some of those who avoided giving evidence at the parliamentary inquiry have since had their premises raided by ICAC, including the Melbourne home of Charles Perrottet, a former Liberal staffer and the brother of the former premier Dominic Perrottet. The latter is not accused of any wrongdoing. Established in 2009, Toplace undertook large-scale residential and mixed-use developments. However, the buildings were riddled with defects and, in July 2023, the NSW Building Commissioner cancelled its licence. Administrators, who were appointed the same month, soon found they were dealing with what they said were myriad 'interrelated company loans, creditors, and payments from Bankstown to Beirut'. Creditors were informed this week that Nassif's personal debt surges almost $2000 daily, with the amount he 'borrowed' from Toplace in suspect loans now exceeding $11 million. The Toplace group is also facing claims of $152 million for defective building work. The only good news for creditors is that the liquidators are looking at recovering about $58 million in potential legal action against contractors, insurers and other providers. Two years before the warrant for his arrest was issued, Nassif was investigated by Strike Force Calool, established in April 2021 to examine financial irregularities and possible money laundering in his property empire. In 2019, Nassif pleaded guilty to cocaine charges after the high-roller was caught with the prohibited drug on his way into Sydney's Star casino. He was given an 18-month conditional release order and no conviction was recorded due to his good character. The Herald has previously revealed that in 2021 Nassif allegedly supplied 10 kilograms of the drug ice and encrypted Ciphr phones to drug mules who were later arrested in Perth, according to court documents. As Nassif remains in Lebanon, the case against daughter Ashlyn continues. She will next appear in court on July 16. Also facing legal action is Nassif's ex-wife, Nissy, whose former lawyers are suing over unpaid fees. In 2019, a video went viral when Nassif filmed himself presenting Nissy, his second wife, with a Valentine's Day gift of a canary yellow Lamborghini worth almost half a million dollars. Nassif famously said, 'Congratulations, Mrs Nassif. You like?' In May 2022, he was charged with assaulting her. The police statement of facts alleged she was 'scared for her life' and that Nassif had slapped her face and dragged her around their house. However, the matter was dismissed when she failed to attend, court claiming she was in Lebanon.
The Age
23-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
$2 billion and counting: More headaches looming for fugitive developer Jean Nassif
Before the ICAC launched the investigation in early 2023, Nassif had been at the centre of a parliamentary inquiry linking him to alleged NSW Liberal Party branch stacking and impropriety at The Hills Shire Council. 'When branch-stacking activities are linked to collusion with developers, they are not merely a distortion of democratic processes, they could amount to serious corruption,' the parliamentary report found. Some of those who avoided giving evidence at the parliamentary inquiry have since had their premises raided by ICAC, including the Melbourne home of Charles Perrottet, a former Liberal staffer and the brother of the former premier Dominic Perrottet. The latter is not accused of any wrongdoing. Established in 2009, Toplace undertook large-scale residential and mixed-use developments. However, the buildings were riddled with defects and, in July 2023, the NSW Building Commissioner cancelled its licence. Administrators, who were appointed the same month, soon found they were dealing with what they said were myriad 'interrelated company loans, creditors, and payments from Bankstown to Beirut'. Creditors were informed this week that Nassif's personal debt surges almost $2000 daily, with the amount he 'borrowed' from Toplace in suspect loans now exceeding $11 million. The Toplace group is also facing claims of $152 million for defective building work. The only good news for creditors is that the liquidators are looking at recovering about $58 million in potential legal action against contractors, insurers and other providers. Two years before the warrant for his arrest was issued, Nassif was investigated by Strike Force Calool, established in April 2021 to examine financial irregularities and possible money laundering in his property empire. In 2019, Nassif pleaded guilty to cocaine charges after the high-roller was caught with the prohibited drug on his way into Sydney's Star casino. He was given an 18-month conditional release order and no conviction was recorded due to his good character. The Herald has previously revealed that in 2021 Nassif allegedly supplied 10 kilograms of the drug ice and encrypted Ciphr phones to drug mules who were later arrested in Perth, according to court documents. As Nassif remains in Lebanon, the case against daughter Ashlyn continues. She will next appear in court on July 16. Also facing legal action is Nassif's ex-wife, Nissy, whose former lawyers are suing over unpaid fees. In 2019, a video went viral when Nassif filmed himself presenting Nissy, his second wife, with a Valentine's Day gift of a canary yellow Lamborghini worth almost half a million dollars. Nassif famously said, 'Congratulations, Mrs Nassif. You like?' In May 2022, he was charged with assaulting her. The police statement of facts alleged she was 'scared for her life' and that Nassif had slapped her face and dragged her around their house. However, the matter was dismissed when she failed to attend, court claiming she was in Lebanon.
