Three Liberal Party members, including two former parliamentarians, have risked expulsion from the party to attack the power of factions and "abuse" of preselection processes.

The New South Wales Liberal Party has opened preselections for all the seats for the forthcoming federal election. While challenges are yet to formally materialise, a number of MPs are facing threats, including one touted as a potential prime minister.

The former politicians and party members have spoken out because they say in New South Wales factional powerbrokers rather than party members are making key decisions about the future of the party.

Former NSW Upper House member Charlie Lynn has called for urgent reform.

"If the Liberal Party was a business I think it would be deregistered because of its conduct," Mr Lynn told 7.30.

"It cannot set itself up as an example of an organisation that has good governance."

The most contentious of all the possible preselection battles is in the seat of Hume, held by first-term MP Angus Taylor, a successful businessman and former Rhodes scholar.

In New South Wales the moderate or left faction is dominant and has a loose alliance with the centre-right faction. Its power has been boosted by the defection of state MP Jai Rowell, a powerbroker who controls branches in Mr Taylor's electorate of Hume.

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Former parliamentary secretary and Sky News contributor Ross Cameron spoke exclusively to 7.30.

"This is the irony, that the big power change which has happened in NSW, you've got a bloke named Jai Rowell, who nobody has ever heard of," Mr Cameron said.

"You could walk from the bottom of Martin Place to the top and ask every single person 'how do you think Jai Rowell MP is going?' Everybody would look at you blankly, [and say], 'you know, I've got no idea who you're talking about'."

Multiple sources have accused Mr Rowell of wanting to roll Hume MP Angus Taylor to replace him with neighbouring MP Russell Matheson, whose seat of Macarthur will become marginal after a redistribution.

Mr Rowell and Mr Matheson are close, with Mr Rowell's wife working in Mr Matheson's office.

Mr Cameron said it was outrageous that a factional boss had the power to call time on an MP's career.

Mr Laucis says ordinary party members are afraid to speak out. ( ABC: 7.30 )

"I don't believe that members of Parliament should be protected from competition or from challenge — I want more competition, not less," Mr Cameron said.

"What I object to is a situation where a bloke, a factional boss, can walk up to someone like Angus Taylor in the seat of Hume and say, 'oh, Angus, just letting you know [with] Jai Rowell's defection, I've got the numbers to execute you and we just haven't decided yet whether we're going to do it'."

Charlie Lynn is Mr Rowell's former boss and friend. He is aware of the branches that would be involved in any contest between Mr Taylor and Mr Matheson.

"Yes, Rowell has the numbers to roll Taylor in Hume," Mr Lynn said.

Mr Rowell declined to be interviewed but sent a statement to 7.30 saying it was ludicrous to suggest he would direct branches to roll Mr Taylor.

"I am not part of any challenge to Angus Taylor. I have enjoyed a good working relationship with Angus Taylor and Russell Matheson and consider them both friends. I have no reason to expect that to change," Mr Rowell said.

He denied suggestions that the branches were populated by "ghost" members.

Mr Cameron and Mr Lynn would like the party to give members a bigger say in preselections. They would like the party to change the process to a plebiscite or even a US-style primary.

"I think what you have to do is you have to be willing to protest, you have to be willing to say, 'this is not good enough'," Mr Cameron said.

"You have to be prepared to have those difficult conversations like the one we're having now, where I'm having to be critical of my own side, because we are behaving like some sort of Chicago, Tammany Hall back room.

"It's a corrupt process, let's call it what it is."

Juris Laucis, a barrister and party member from the electorate of Warringah, is also sympathetic to the right faction. He says local members will walk away if the party structures are not made more democratic.

"Unfortunately I feel parliamentarians are scared that they will lose their position if they speak out," Mr Laucis said.

"Or else they are already under the power and influence of the powerbrokers.

"I think that's a very sad thing that you have to come to people like me, who are just ordinary members with no official position within the party, to speak out against the abuse that's occurring."

The Liberal Party in NSW has agreed to expand the number of branch members involved in preselecting candidates after the current round of nominations.

Ruddock says nobody has right to hold a seat

Meanwhile, outgoing Liberal MP Philip Ruddock has called for a more competitive preselection process within the party, even if the incumbent is forced out.

Mr Ruddock will stand down at the next federal election after 42 years in politics, amid speculation he was facing a battle to hold on to his seat of Berowra.

He told the ABC's Lateline no MP should take their seat for granted.

"Well, if there were offering candidates who were measurably better, it may well be appropriate," he said.

"I mean, I don't think anybody has a right to hold a seat. But I think we have to choose people who are the right candidates for the right seats."

Federal MPs Craig Kelly and Mr Taylor remain under pressure to hold on to their seats, despite personal assurances from the Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull.

Mr Ruddock said while he has "enormous respect" for both Mr Taylor and Mr Kelly, if a better candidate came along, "so be it".

Mr Ruddock said there needed to be a better approach to choosing candidates, claiming the current rules were "rigid".

"I wouldn't have sought to stay in the Parliament if I didn't believe that I wasn't contributing, and equally, I think people are entitled to say if there's somebody else who's going to do it better, well, let them have a go," he said.