“I’m furious on behalf of those candidates who have missed out, including sitting councillors, on behalf of our Liberal Party members who work so hard to get Liberals elected, and on behalf of the general public in those areas who we thought were entitled to have Liberal candidates offered as a choice,” he said.
“Unfortunately, in these circumstances, the state director has to fall on his sword. He is the CEO who runs the organisation. He is the CEO who is responsible.”
Speakman said Liberal HQ was exploring whether there were any available avenues for affected councillors and candidates to run in September, including asking the NSW Electoral Commission for leniency on the deadline and exploring legislative options.
Liberal members of the state executive turned their ire on party president Don Harwin, saying responsibility sat across the division’s leadership team.
In a letter to state council delegates, conservative Liberal vice presidents Geoff Pearson and Peter O’Hanlon said with a federal election on the horizon, the resignations of the state director and president were imperative.
“A mere apology is not enough. The State President and the State Director must both accept full responsibility for such a massive failure. With leadership comes responsibility. It is now time for Richard and Don to acknowledge and accept that full responsibility,” the pair wrote.
“It is cold comfort to the people of NSW who will be denied the opportunity to vote Liberal at the election, but a new President and State Director is the only way to demonstrate that this will not happen again.”
There have been calls for Liberal Party state president Don Harwin to resign.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer
Speakman also told federal Liberal leader Peter Dutton that Shields’ position is untenable as the party prepares for a federal election early next year.
Dutton told 2GB that the mistakes made inside the NSW Liberals head office were “not acceptable”.
“We want to make sure that there is a proper administrative process put in place. And they failed in that regard. And it’s very, very disappointing to see,” Dutton said.
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Liberal insiders who are barred from speaking publicly about party matters said problems had become increasingly apparent in the weeks leading up to the deadline.
At the 2021 council elections, Liberal nominations were mostly filled out by individual council tickets and then had their fees reimbursed by the party’s HQ. However, a change in processes meant head office had taken responsibility for council tickets, a task they were unprepared for.
Sources said Shields, who spent Wednesday morning opening a park in his capacity as Woollahra mayor, failed to ask for additional resources to handle the nominations.
Relaying a conversation with Shields, a senior Liberal source said the state director told him he “misinterpreted the amount of work involved” in the nomination process.
In a statement on Wednesday, Shields apologised and blamed limited resources as he confirmed the party had failed to nominate candidates “in all of the local government areas”.
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