Factionalism, a mystery to almost everyone outside the political class, was at the root of the debacle of the loss of votes around the pre-selection of candidates in a set of key marginal seats in NSW. Winning voters such as Bennelong, Eden Monaro, Hughes, Warringah and Parramatta ran out of candidates for up to two minutes to midnight, while faction warlords argued in court and Liberal Party rejections.
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Like many other organizations ashamed of low membership, it is virtually impossible to find out how many members the Liberal Party has. According to my calculations, the answer is about 40,000. It is unclear how many are financial members. That’s 40,000 members of the 17.5 million Australians registered for the electoral roll. That’s a pathetic 0.23 percent, barely recognizable on the Richter political scale.
The inescapable truth is that the Liberal Party is not an organization of mass members. He should be and he likes to pretend he is. Nowhere was it more evident than during the recent six-week campaign in many of the now green seats, where Liberal Party workers were hopelessly outnumbered. Desperate SOS messages from exhausted party organizers flew around to get volunteers. Well-intentioned for sure, but too little, too late. The horse had thrown itself, reflected in a sea of greenish green that dominated its strategically chosen seats with cherries.
With their feet on the ground for the ALP, the Greens and other left-wing parties join unions and related organizations, and GetUp. According to its website, GetUp has 1 million members, more than 20 times the size of the Liberal Party. Even if it is half, it is 10 times more than the joint membership of the Liberal Party in six states and two territories.
Let’s explain this point in the open. Factions and their leaders do not like members except the members they control. Try suggesting a membership campaign to double the size of the Liberal Party. For the worst reasons, this is seen much more as a threat than an opportunity.
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For those who say the Liberal Party was disappointed by the defeated Morrison government, the truth is more that the government was disappointed by the Liberal Party.
For the Liberal Party, there are four basic KPIs for which failure is not an option: great affiliation, orderly pre-election, putting your feet on the ground between and especially during election campaigns, and successful fundraising. In NSW, at least, the Liberal Party failed in all four. Anecdotal comments from other states and territories tell a similar story. Most importantly, so do the results.
Scott Morrison has rightly taken rap for failure at the polls. That goes with work. But he and the large number of candidates who were defeated as seated or aspiring members must denounce the abrupt organizational failure for which the Liberal Party machine is responsible.
The exciting news is that there is a solution. But that can only be followed by a forensic autopsy and a willingness on the part of the faction players to focus on the basic roles of the party and the essential reforms. It’s a great call.
Australian politics has just changed forever. Now is the time for the Liberal Party to change forever.
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