‘You don’t get to bully your way into a seat in the Liberal party,’ says PM, after dumped Liberal candidate Grant Schultz speaks out

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Scott Morrison has blamed Grant Schultz for a decision to overturn his preselection in the marginal seat of Gilmore, accusing the Liberal-turned-independent of undermining the sitting member.

The decision by the New South Wales Liberal executive sparked outrage from Schultz, who said the party had betrayed its values of “honesty, democracy and integrity” by dumping him in favour of Indigenous leader Warren Mundine.

Schultz and state MP Shelley Hancock have suggested that local Liberals are already turning their backs on the party over the move, but Morrison hit back by blaming Schultz for blocking a fresh preselection when sitting member Ann Sudmalis announced her retirement.

Morrison painted Mundine’s recruitment as “an opportunity for Liberal supporters to get behind a first-class candidate”, even claiming it would act “as a circuit breaker from those events of last year” when Schultz refused to call off a challenge against Sudmalis.

The choice of Mundine is particularly controversial because of his former association with Labor, of which he was the national president in 2006, and the fact he does not yet live in the electorate.

Mundine only gained Liberal party membership on Tuesday and his candidacy required the party to waive rules for a candidate to be a member for at least six months.

At a press conference in Nowra, Morrison said the south coast was the “ancestral home for [Mundine’s] people” and Mundine explained his grandparents and earlier generations were born in Moruya, Kiama, and the Shoalhaven River.

Mundine said he had even “decided on a house” already in the local area and would look to buy in the electorate in the next two days.

Asked how he could be taken seriously as a Liberal after predicting Bill Shorten would be the prime minister in 2009, Mundine replied the Liberal party “is the home for me because it is about creating jobs”.

Mundine said that people earning less than $80,000 – including his own children – “use negative gearing as their nest egg when they retire” which is “now under threat” due to Labor’s policies.

Mundine confirmed that he wants to see the date of Australia Day moved from 26 January, a position that puts him at odds with Morrison who has vowed to protect the national holiday on the date commemorating European settlement.

Mundine said there were “100 different things” that were more important than the date, citing a spate of Indigenous suicides in recent days.

Gilmore is now set for a four-cornered contest between Schultz, running as an independent, Mundine, Labor and the National party.

On Wednesday, the Nationals leader Michael McCormack spruiked the credentials of former state MP and Nationals vice president Katrina Hodgkinson. Morrison welcomed the fact the junior Coalition partner will run.

Earlier, Schultz said he was “disappointed not for myself but for the people of Gilmore” because Liberal members had been “let down and betrayed” over the decision to override the local preselection result.

“I am already aware of a number of members that have cancelled their memberships,” he told ABC News Breakfast.

Schultz said he had not asked members to quit in protest, but it was “a decision they should consider” if they thought they could better represent the community from outside the Liberal party.

Morrison explained that when Sudmalis decided to retire, the party asked Schultz to stand aside and allow new nominations but he refused.

“Now, I’m not going to reward behaviour that sought to undermine a sitting member of parliament,” he said. Morrison clarified he was not suggesting Schultz was involved in alleged bullying of Sudmalis, but cited the fact he had challenged a sitting member.

“His decision to do what he’s done, yesterday, just says that the NSW Liberal party got it dead right.”

“You don’t get to bully your way into a seat in the Liberal party, that’s not how it works.”

Warren Mundine picked by Scott Morrison to stand in marginal seat of Gilmore Read more

Schultz rejected the charge, arguing that he was “voted in by the branches in a democratic process in a secret ballot 40-9”.

Hancock, the state MP for the South Coast which is contained in the federal electorate of Gilmore, backed Schultz in comments to the South Coast Register questioning why Mundine had been parachuted in instead.

“I suspect there will be branch members who will turn their backs on the party,” she reportedly said.

“Only recently Scott Morrison was talking about the importance of grassroots processes when preselecting candidates.

“I’m bitterly disappointed for Grant Schultz. He went through all the process and he won overwhelmingly.”

Mundine promised to “work with those people who are thinking about leaving or who have left, and bring them back into the fold”.