THE president of the Young Liberals’ Terrigal branch is facing a five-year party ban after allegations of branch stacking were this week referred to the state executive for a final ruling.

Christian McLaughlan has been under investigation by the NSW Liberal Party since January for allegedly reimbursing new members’ fees, as well as falsifying minutes of meetings­.

The party confirmed on Wednesday it was investigating Mr McLaughlan — who denies any wrongdoing — for inappropriate conduct but it would not comment further until the matter was fully dealt with.

However, a senior party source told the Express Advocate that Mr McLaughlan had been found in breach of the constitution in relation to branch stacking and would now face disciplinary action.

“There was a ruling (on Tuesday night) which has been referred to the state executive,” the source said.

Mr McLaughlan said he had been informed of the preliminary ruling, but was confident of being cleared.

“I will defend myself when I appear before the state executive,” he said. “I understand the evidence is not clear that I breached the constitution, but I fully deny I did anything wrong and I will have three months of supporting documentation to back up my case.

“And with the falsifying minutes claim, the party may not have told you, but I have been exonerated.”

Revelations of the party’s investigation into alleged branch stacking on the Coast comes after the Liberals’ preselection of 26-year-old Taylor Martin — who is not a member of the Terrigal branch — to the NSW upper house on Sunday.

media_camera Taylor Martin, 26, has been under fire in his first week as a NSW parliamentarian.

Sources say Mr Martin, a former staffer of Robertson federal Liberal MP Lucy Wicks, has been the target of a smear campaign just days into the start of his parliamentary career.

Mr McLaughlan denies he was behind the leaks, where Mr Martin is alleged to have branded someone a “Nazi” and launched a “vile and intimidating” attack on a fellow Liberal Party member during a second incident in which he told them to “f--- off back to Sydney”. But he did say that the “whole preselection of Taylor Martin was a joke”.

Mr Martin declined to respond to specific allegations against him. However, he said he was “honoured” to be chosen by the party’s preselectors to represent the Hunter and Central Coast regions, “where I was born, grew up and live”.

media_camera Taylor Martin has replaced Mike Gallacher in the NSW upper house.

“It is a privilege to be given the opportunity to represent the concerns and aspirations of our region in the NSW Parliament,” Mr Martin said.

‘FACTIONAL SYSTEM MUST BE CHANGED’

THE fierce factional fighting within the NSW Liberals is playing into the hands of minor parties including One Nation, a senior party official says.

Troy Stolz, president of the Liberals’ Dobell and Wyong state conferences, has broken ranks to warn against a wipe-out at the next state and federal elections unless the party reforms its system to preselect candidates.

media_camera Troy Stolz with former Prime Minister Tony Abbott.

“Both of the major parties have lost their way and I think the community expects much more in terms of the candidates we are putting up for election,” Mr Stolz (pictured) said.

The cutting party rebuke from the former campaign manager for Dobell federal Liberal MP Karen McNamara came in the wake of 26-year-old Taylor Martin’s rise into the NSW upper house this week.

Mr Stolz said the public expected all political parties to offer up candidates with a “reasonable amount of life and work experience”.

“I’m not criticising Taylor personally; I’m more concerned by the system that has allowed him to get into this position,” he said. “We had two good female candidates (in Mrs McNamara and Hunter-based Karen Howard) ready to replace Mike Gallacher for his MLC seat, yet they were both overlooked in the final round (on Sunday) as certain factions took over.”

A spokesman for the NSW Liberals said the preselection process was “conducted in accordance with the party’s constitution”.

Mr Martin declined to comment on Mr Stolz’s concerns­.