Former prime minister Tony Abbott is pushing for reform of the NSW Liberal Party. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Fairfax Media has spoken to a senior Liberal who claims to have been told by a volunteer telephoning to recruit attendees that 200 registrations have been paid for – at a cost of up to $30,000 – by supporters of a reform motion by Mr Abbott's Warringah Federal Electorate Conference. The so-called Warringah motion would introduce plebiscites whereby every local party member would get a vote in preselections. At present voting is restricted to branch representatives and some party officials. The ruling left and centre right factions claim this will open the door to large scale branch stacking by the "hard" right faction. They support a compromise which would introduce plebiscites but with strict safeguards such as a member activity test and a requirement for several years' membership.

On Friday, the deadline to register for the $150 a head convention, a text message bearing Mr Abbott's "signature" and urging attendance and a vote in favour of the motion, was sent to party members. The same day the NSW Liberals received 450 registrations for the meeting. "It's ironic that when the concern about [Mr Abbott's] hard right faction's proposal for plebiscites is the potential for branch stacking they are paying people to attend the convention in an attempt to stack the outcome," said the senior Liberal source, who requested anonymity due to rules banning discussion of internal party affairs in the media. "It's wrong and unfair that people are being given a free ticket but only if they are prepared to support the Warringah motion. How can you have an open and fair debate when half the room has been paid for?" A source close to the group pushing for the preselection changes – the Democratic Reform Movement, led by Mr Abbott's conference president and campaign director Walter Villatora – agreed it offered to pay the registration fee of those unable to afford it. This was because the group felt the $150 cost of registration was an impediment to attendance.

However, the source said the figure of 200 was vastly inflated and the actual number of registrations paid for was "in the high 20s", adding that "we just don't have that sort of money". A spokesman for the NSW Liberal Party said it had no comment. The convention emerged from the NSW Liberal Party's annual general meeting last year at which Mr Abbott and his supporters sought support for the Warringah motion. The meeting instead supported a compromise put forward by Mr Turnbull and then NSW Premier Mike Baird to thrash out the matter at the convention. Mr Turnbull has voiced his support for a move to plebiscites but has not indicated which version.

The convention comes during a period of heightened tensions between Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott, who he toppled as leader in 2015, over the direction of the federal Coalition government. Mr Abbott in recent weeks has delivered a series of speeches outlining his vision for the government. Loading On Sunday, federal Liberal president Nick Greiner said he would talk to Mr Abbott in the next week or so and encourage him to sit down with Mr Turnbull to resolve their differences. Mr Greiner told Sky News that Mr Turnbull and Mr Abbott "need to resolve this between themselves" and that everyone needed "to be adults about it" or the Coalition would lose the next election.