Factional jostling

A party source opposed to Mr Quick said his newsletter was in breach of party rules covering internal communications and no other member had attacked the party in such terms in the past two decades.

Two factions jostling for power in the Victorian Liberal party at the party's annual meeting on April 28 and 29 have been recruiting members to bolster their support. Mr Bastiaan is from the right and Mr Quick from the left, or centre grouping although he describes himself as a libertarian.

The annual meeting will chose the office-holders who will run the party for the next year.

Mr Quick complained of large numbers of people joining the party only to vote in internal elections, and a change in the selection of returning officers that he said would give the party's head office too much power.

Liberal Party Victorian president Michael Kroger with faction leader Marcus Bastiaan. Facebook

Mr Quick is a member of the party's administrative committee, which oversees the work of the state director and head office. He complained journalists were given information not available to most members.

"I have produced three newsletters (this is the fourth), sent to hundreds of people in the party, and not a single thing I've written has ended up in the media," he wrote this month. "Yet (for example) a meeting of just four senior members ended up in a full featured article in the newspaper."


Parliamentary candidates

One of the crucial issues facing the Victorian Liberals is when they choose their state and federal parliamentary candidates.

Mr Quick and others have complained that the party's head office is moving slowly, a delay that might help Mr Bastiaan's faction get more of its candidates selected.

"The parliamentary party has (mostly) stayed on the sidelines of the internal party upheaval; however they ultimately could pay the price for it."

Cormack fight

Another gripe is Mr Kroger's court case against the party's bigger donor, the Cormack Foundation.

One of the foundation's former directors, businessman Charles Goode, was questioned in court on Tuesday by the party's barrister about discussions 28 years ago on whether the foundation's money belonged to the Liberal Party.

"I don't remember that," Mr Goode said. "I was never of the view that the Liberal Party owned the Cormack Foundation, so I can't agree with that statement."

Correction: An earlier version of this article contained a photograph that was incorrectly identified of being Ian Quick.