But others in the party believe Mr Diaz's difficulties will be forgotten if he is given a chance to prove himself as an MP. Illustration: Cathy Wilcox. Credit:Cathy Wilcox ''He's had a bad campaign, but once he's there he'll be a reasonably effective marginal seat member,'' a senior Liberal argued. Mr Diaz rocketed to prominence early in the campaign when he was stumped by a television journalist's request to name the Liberals' six-point plan for how to stop asylum seeker boats. The footage went viral and made international headlines. His lack of availability to the media since has become one of the campaign's running jokes. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is being dogged by questions about his western Sydney candidate and was forced to defend him on Wednesday.

''People should vote for Jaymes Diaz,'' Mr Abbott said. ''They should vote for all of our candidates, because our candidates will vote to scrap the carbon tax, to end the waste, to stop the boats and to build the roads.'' Mr Abbott acknowledged Mr Diaz had ''a bad day with some journalists''. But he added: ''It doesn't make him a bad candidate and my understanding is that he did an interview yesterday where he was absolutely across all of the various plans and policies that we've got.'' Fairfax Media has been told moves are already afoot to use Mr Diaz's difficulties to convince the hard right to withdraw its support for him at the next federal election, even if he is the sitting MP. There is speculation that if Mr Abbott becomes prime minister and is forced to call a double dissolution election to abolish the carbon price, Mr Diaz's parliamentary career could end up being brief.

Mr Diaz's family controls the branches in Greenway but could struggle to win preselection if the hard right moved its support behind another candidate supported by rival factions. Alternatively, it would require an intervention by Mr Abbott with the support of the hard right, but doing so to remove a sitting MP would be highly controversial. Mr Diaz failed to win Greenway at the 2010 election but was protected from being dumped due to his control of local branches and support from hard-right powerbroker and NSW upper house MP David Clarke. Mr Abbott, who did not favour Mr Diaz as the candidate, declined to intervene largely because he was already engaged in sorting out factional disputes in Robertson and Dobell on the central coast. Loading