Groom to remain Liberal

THE struggle of the Nationals to wrestle Groom off the Liberals appears to have failed for the time being.

“Following a meeting of the Groom Federal Divisional Council of the LNP, an LNP Member for Groom will remain sitting in the Liberal Party’s party room,” LNP acting president Cynthia Hardy said on Monday night.

Members of the Groom Federal Divisional Council of the LNP met on Monday at The Oaks Hotel for a mammoth three hour meeting to vote on whether the next LNP Groom MP (if successful at the by-election) should sit in the Liberal or National party room in Canberra.

About 110 people were at the meeting, where tensions were running high.

Prior to the meeting, Groom FDC chair Peter Wilson emailed party members letting them know the vote would be “potentially one of the biggest decisions our FDC will make”.

At the meeting, Gabbinbar Homestead general manager Isaac Moody introduced a motion calling for more time to make the decision, which was accepted by a majority of the members that were there.

This means that because no decision was made, as the vote was deferred, the next LNP Groom MP would continue to sit in the Liberal party room.

The Chronicle understands a vote on whether the seat would change to the Nationals from the Liberals won’t be held before the by-election.

Former Groom MP Ian Macfarlane was reported as telling the crowd now was the wrong time to be having these discussions as it would appear the party was just having discussions about itself.

This would not be seen as a good look in the lead-up to the state election. On Tuesday morning, the LNP State Director Michael O’Dwyer extended nominations for preselection, which were supposed to close on Wednesday.

“Due to receiving an extensive number of expressions of interest, we have extended the closure of nominations for Groom,” Mr O’Dwyer said in an email to party members.

Nominations will now close at 5pm on Friday, October 2.

Leading candidates include Rebecca Vonhoff and Shane Charles.