The Liberal Party have revealed nine federal candidates for NSW ahead of the upcoming election, with the line-up consisting of mostly women.
The state’s preselection of federal candidates has been highly contentious after it was drawn amid messy internal disputes, with the party’s federal executive taking control of the NSW branch last month.
The choices were made by a committee made up of Prime Minister Scott Morrison, NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet and former federal Liberal Party president Chris McDiven.
Liberal’s female-dominated endorsements were revealed on Saturday morning as Mr Morrison is expected to call the federal election within days.
Of the nine candidates revealed for the federal seats on Saturday, five were women.
Outspoken biological-sex campaigner and lawyer Katherine Deves has been endorsed for Tony Abbott’s former seat of Warringah, where she will run against independent Zali Steggall.
The Warringah local put forward her nomination in March, just hours after they were reopened following factional infighting.
In her submission, the co-founder of Save Women’s Sport lobby group asked to be granted an exemption as she did not meet the requirement of having a continuous six-month financial Liberal membership.
Western Sydney Women co-founder Maria Kovacic has been endorsed for the seat of Parramatta.
The federal seat has been open since Julie Owens announced her retirement in October, leading Ms Kovacic to put her nomination forward in December.
Ms Kovacic was an ANZ franchisee for 16 years and is currently a chair of the Hills Community Aid, is on the steering committee for the Parramatta Eels Women@Eels and is president of the Berowra Federal Electorate Conference and Hornsby State Electoral Conference.
Cardiothoracic nurse and local councillor Katrina Wark has been endorsed as a Liberal candidate for the division of Newcastle.
The mum-of-seven ran in the 2019 Federal election against Labor’s Sharon Claydon but was unable to get the backing power.
Gymea Bay resident and lawyer Jenny Ware was a strong contender before she was endorsed for the seat of Hughes.
Ms Ware had the backing of the party’s moderates faction and local branches, and was endorsed by Danna Vale, who held the seat for the Liberal Party from 1996 to 2010 before Craig Kelly moved in.
She is a long-time Liberal Party member and is a lawyer specialised in planning, environmental, litigation and government law.
Ms Ware is currently the director of legal services and general counsel at Georges River Council.
Real estate agent Courtney Nguyen has been selected and endorsed as the Liberal Party candidate for Fowler, a Labor-held seat which is unlikely to change hands.
Ex-navy seaman and executive at the Pharmacy Guild Jerry Nockles has been selected as the Liberal candidate for Eden-Monaro, a seat which Labor won at a by-election by 0.8 per cent.
Finance professional Pradeep Pathi has been selected for the Sydney northwest seat of Greenway.
Indian-born Liberal candidate Vivek Singha has been selected to represent the Liberal party for the seat of McMahon.
Small businessman Wenjie Zhang has been endorsed for the seat of Grayndler, which is currently held by Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese.
A court case about whether the federal executive committee could take control of the members is currently tracking through the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal.
The committee last week reappointed ministers Sussan Ley and Alex Hawke as candidates in Farrer and Mitchell, and MP Trent Zimmerman to North Sydney.
However, the validity of those decisions are now being questioned, with a judgment on whether the selections can still is yet to be handed down.
The management of the NSW branch is set to be returned to the NSW party at 6pm Saturday.
