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Libs scratching for a candidate in one of SA’s safest seats

The SA Liberals still “intend” to field a candidate to run against ousted incumbent Fraser Ellis in the party’s Yorke Peninsula stronghold, despite receiving no nominations for the vacant preselection by last week’s deadline, InDaily understands.

Feb 03, 2022, updated Feb 03, 2022
State Liberal president Legh Davis (left) at a state council meeting last year. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily

State Liberal president Legh Davis (left) at a state council meeting last year. Photo: Tony Lewis / InDaily

InDaily revealed last month that the party’s state executive had “agreed to open nominations for Narungga, closing at noon on Monday 24 January”, effectively ending Ellis’s chances of returning to the Liberal fold before he faces court later this year.

He had been exiled on the crossbench since February last year, when he was charged with offences relating to the alleged misuse of the country members allowance parliamentary entitlement, after a scandal that saw several Liberal MPs step down from key roles.

But senior Liberals have consistently refused to answer questions about the preselection process, citing confidentiality ahead of an obligatory screening process known as Candidate Review Committee.

However, multiple sources have now confirmed to InDaily that as of last week’s deadline, there was no candidate to review – after no-one nominated to run in one of the party’s safest state seats.

It’s understood senior members of the party’s state executive have since approached at least one local party member – Yorke Peninsula Council deputy mayor Tania Stock – about running against Ellis, but that she declined.

Stock – who is already a Liberal Legislative Council candidate, albeit in the unwinnable seventh spot on the party ticket – told InDaily: “I’m not really in a position to provide any comment at this stage.”

She referred questions to Liberal state director Sascha Meldrum, who she said was “working through those details”.

However, asked whether there was a chance she would run for the party in Narungga, Stock replied: “I don’t believe so, no.”

Meldrum has declined to respond to several questions about the preselection in recent days.

Asked about the candidacy process today, state president Legh Davis said: “You’ll learn about that in due course.”

He noted that the party never divulged the names of nominees ahead of the candidate review process – previously, however, the number of nominees has been released.

Davis suggested the delay was due to the process being bundled in with the hunt for candidates in several Labor-held seats, saying: “You have to recognise that we’re very busy at the moment.”

“You’ll get an answer very shortly,” he said.

“We’re just going through the CRCs very shortly [so] we are dealing with it… we’ve always said we’re going to have a candidate, so that’s our intention.”

But asked whether anyone nominated for the vacancy by last week’s deadline, he replied: “I’m not going to answer that question.”

“I’m not commenting on that… I’ve said that we’ve got CRCs very shortly,” he said.

“I just make it quite clear you’ll get an answer very shortly [but] it won’t be today.”

Narungga is one of the Liberals’ safest seats, with a nominal margin of almost 18 per cent.

With just six weeks until election day, it is highly unusual for the party to not have selected a candidate for such a seemingly-plum role – with insiders fearing the executive will be forced to bring someone in from outside the electorate to fly the Liberal flag.

It appears unlikely that a CRC process is imminent, with local state electorate conference members yet to be informed about any nominees.

The SEC president is generally included on the CRC panel, although Narungga president Jamie Smith declined to comment today.

But SEC committee member and prominent local businessman Malcolm Eglinton told InDaily: “State executive have endeavoured to find a candidate and up to today the local members haven’t been notified if there’s been a candidate nominated or there hasn’t been.”

“Our preference would still be that the executive would simply receive Fraser back into the Liberal Party and we can get on with business,” he said.

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