Several senior Liberal sources have told the Herald they suspect factional deals killed off Ms Keane's chances, amid factional scrambles to save the Treasurer. "It's beyond belief that in the current climate the factions could be so short-sighted and irresponsible in rejecting an outstanding candidate," a senior source said. Ms Keane lives in the Castle Hill electorate, contested the 2016 federal election as the Liberal Party candidate for the seat of Greenway and is a former Liberal mayor of the Hills Shire Council. She is a member of the centre-right faction, which is controlled by federal minister Alex Hawke, and includes Castle Hill MP Ray Williams. Under the waiver process, she was not required to specify which seat she intended to nominate for. A factional war erupted within the party's ranks last week, when Mr Perrottet, who is from the hard right and the member for Hawkesbury, nominated for Castle Hill in a deliberate attempt to oust Mr Williams.

Premier Gladys Berejiklian was forced to intervene to broker a peace deal which will instead see Mr Perrottet nominate for the seat of Epping, while the current member, Damien Tudehope, was assured of a spot in the upper house. NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet sparked a factional war when he attempted to oust Multiculturalism Minister Ray William from his seat of Castle Hill last week. Credit:AAP The events come amid a heated discussion about female representation across the Liberal Party's ranks, particularly in the NSW Parliament where Liberal women have just 11 of the 135 seats, representing less than a quarter of all Liberal-held seats. Though she had been a party member for nine years, Ms Keane was forced to apply for special dispensation to nominate for state preselections after an error in her email registered with the NSW Liberal Party database meant she was not informed when her membership failed to renew automatically in July. The error meant her membership lapsed for about a month.

Under party rules, Liberals must have six months of continuous party membership in order to nominate for preselection. The NSW Liberal Party state executive routinely votes to approve special dispensation in situations where potential candidates do not satisfy the six-month membership requirement. Julia Ham, the party's failed Wagga Wagga candidate, was approved by a vote of the executive to contest the seat at the September byelection despite having been a member for only three months. The Herald has been told that two other Liberal members successfully applied for special dispensation last week, including a young Liberal man who was approved the day after Ms Keane was rejected. "It's disgusting a strong female candidate gets knocked back because of the party's right-wing faction, especially when a male candidate gets passed through the next day," another senior Liberal source said.

Ms Keane secured only 10 votes in support of her waiver from the 22 members of the state executive, falling short of the 60 per cent needed under party rules. Senior factional players are now scrambling to fix the situation, with one possible outcome involving a fresh vote by the state executive on Ms Keane's eligibility. However, even if this is successful, the Herald has been told that the factional deals brokered to assure Mr Perrottet a seat mean there are few, if any, viable seat options left. Four candidates have nominated to replace Mr Perrottet in the Hawkesbury seat, including two from his right faction. They are: Robyn Preston, a staffer in Mr Perrottet's electoral office and councillor with the Hills Shire Council and Dee Zegarac, a former staffer to Mr Perrottet. Hawkesbury City Councillor Nathan Zamprogno, who is factionally unaligned, has also nominated, as has Sarah Richards, from the moderate faction.