Expelled Mulder takes shot at Abetz, Abbott

FORMER MP Tony Mulder has been expelled by the Liberal Party, and has accused its Right wing of targeting him and has vowed to run for Clarence mayor.

The former Member for Rumney has been given his marching orders for running against endorsed Liberal candidate Jane Howlett in this year’s poll for the Legislative Council seat of Prosser.

Mr Mulder says he was given a guarantee the Liberals would not run against him if he pulled out of last year’s Pembroke by-election.

He says he began campaigning for Prosser with the party’s knowledge before Ms Howlett’s endorsement after she failed to win a Lower House seat at the state election in March.

Mr Mulder had been a member of the Liberal Party since 2004 but sat as an independent in the Legislative Council from 2011-17.

A small-l liberal, Mr Mulder said the party’s conservative faction had targeted him.

“They don’t want me because I’m not an Abetz-Abbott conservative,” he said.

“They’re the only people who can get preselected for anything these days.”

Mr Mulder accused the Liberals of ignoring their own constitution to parachute Ms Howlett in as an Upper House candidate.

“Is it any wonder I didn’t pull out of the race — I was already running,” he said.

“They’ll use the constitution to throw me out but they won’t follow the constitution themselves.”

Liberal state president Geoff Page said Mr Mulder had clearly breached the party constitution by running against Ms Howlett, who went on to win the seat.

Mr Page rejected the accusation the preselection process had been tampered with.

“The preselection process conducted for the seat of Prosser was in strict accordance with the party’s constitution,” he said.

Mr Mulder will turn his attention to the October council elections with a tilt at Mayor of Clarence.

If he succeeds, he will not take another crack at Pembroke when it goes to the polls again next year.

“I will be content to be the mayor of Clarence City,” he said.

The expulsion has reopened divisions in the Tasmanian Liberals exposed this year when moderate Sue Hickey accepted Labor’s nomination to become the new Parliament’s Speaker.

Mr Mulder said he had remained a party member in an attempt to influence the Liberals from within.

“My battle is with the hardRight conservatives inside the party who are spending all their time trying to drag this party into a Donald Trump lookalike without regard to the ordinary rank and file,” he said.

Labor spokeswoman Sarah Lovell said State Government policy had been influenced by the Liberals’ conservative wing.