The last-minute imposition of candidates in a lot of Liberal seats across NSW triggered a challenge that reached the High Court and left party members enraged with Morrison and his right-hand man, Alex Hawke.
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Similarly, Morrison’s decision to focus the party’s campaign and political offerings on the outer suburban and regional seats, such as Corangamite and McEwen in Victoria, Parramatta and Gilmore in NSW, Cowan in Western Australia and Lingiari in the Northern Territory , had a significant cost.
After being held by the Liberals for decades and providing a conveyor belt for prime ministers and senior ministers, the party lost Kooyong, detained by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Goldstein, North Sydney, Mackellar, Wentworth and Curtin for independents in green, while Higgins, Reid, Boothby and Bennelong went to Labor along with a group of Western Australian seats.
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