NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman has backed the party’s desperate legal fight to force the state’s electoral agency to reopen nominations for local government elections.
NSW Liberal leader Mark Speakman has backed the party’s desperate legal bid to force the state’s electoral agency to reopen nominations for local government elections after it missed the deadline, but says calls for a federal intervention into the state’s division are “premature”.
The party’s first request for an extension, which raised concerns about how the electoral notices and nomination forms were issued, was rejected by the Electoral Commission on Saturday afternoon. “Clearly there was a serious error at party headquarters. Last week, I described it as a debacle, and it was a debacle, but if there is any way that we can stand up in the interests of candidates, party members and the general public by looking at reasonably viable legal avenues, then we need to explore that,” he said.“That is an appropriate thing for us at the end of the day, if we pursue those, and they fail, well, we just have to cop it sweet.
Shields was terminated immediately without compensation late on Thursday night by an extraordinary meeting of the state executive. But pressed on whether he would support an intervention, Speakman said the calls were “premature at the moment”, instead throwing his support behind the investigation by Loughnane.
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