Image: Photo: peterduttonmp / Instagram
Geoff Pearson, one of four vice presidents of the NSW Liberal Party and a member of its right-wing faction, has torn up his party membership over his support for disendorsed candidate Ben Britton, whom he was seen campaigning for less than two weeks before election day.
Pearson was spotted on Tuesday 22 April, handing out pamphlets in Bowral. The town is in the electorate of Whitlam, which covers most of the Southern Highlands and part of the South Coast.
Britton is running as an independent following his disendorsement by the Liberal Party over at-times bizarre comments about women in the military and transgender people. Pearson left the party the same morning he was seen campaigning. Britton spoke out after he was disendorsed by the NSW Liberals, telling 2GB that “higher-ups” sought to have him removed and claiming it was a “witch hunt” because he “wouldn’t sign up to a faction”.
Whilst the state branch is currently being administered by the federal party following the council elections debacle, Pearson’s resignation could be seen as a headache for the party’s right in a state where the centrist small-l Liberal faction has the upper hand.
Britton is not the only former Liberal running as an independent. Fellow conservative Matthew Camenzuli is running in the South Western Sydney seat of McMahon, held by energy minister Chris Bowen.
Camenzuli told the Herald that “Pearson is one of the finest men I’ve ever met and I would gladly stand beside him in any of his future endeavours.”
Pearson, for his part, told the paper that Britton is the “best candidate” for Whitlam.
“I realise this puts me at odds with some party rules and for that reason I chose to quietly step away.”
“I think everyone realises there are serious structural issues with the New South Wales division. Peter Dutton certainly recognises that.”
Headaches for the NSW Liberal Party
Some Liberals have questioned the party’s candidate selection process in the state following several controversies surrounding candidates, including but not limited to Britton.
Candidate Scott Yung, running in John Howard’s former electorate of Bennelong, faced controversy in early April after it was revealed he had spoken warmly of Xie Xiongming, a millionaire gambler with links to the Chinese Communist Party and political donor Xie Xiongming, who has been barred from Australia over national security concerns. The comments were made in an address to a community event.
In the speech, Yung also acknowledged Ernest Wong, a former state Labor MP who was in 2022 found to have engaged in serious corrupt conduct.
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