Barton’s future to be decided
LNP backbencher Verity Barton’s political future is on the line, with a meeting of the party’s State Executive to decide later this month whether she can run for preselection to recontest her Gold Coast seat.
The Bulletin understands the state executive will decide on May 19 – during a meeting in Emerald – if Ms Barton will be allowed to take part in a preselection battle for her Broadwater seat, after the party’s vetting committee last month failed to recommend she should be allowed to take part in the contest.
Ms Barton – a second-term MP – is being challenged by former Newman government minister David Crisafulli for the relatively safe seat with a date for the preselection yet to be set. The seat was heavily reconfigured by the Queensland Boundaries Commission to include Hope Island, where Mr Crisafulli now resides after moving from Townsville after the last state election.
It comes as the LNP prepares for a “super Saturday” of preselections on the Sunshine Coast this weekend, with contests taking place in Buderim, Noosa and Nicklin.