The New South Wales Liberal party has demanded a week-long extension to lodge nominations for more than 130 council candidates after the party missed the deadline in a “monumental stuff-up”.
But acting NSW electoral commissioner Matthew Phillips considered the grounds for the request and on Saturday rejected an extension.
The NSW Liberal party president, Don Harwin, sent a letter to the NSW electoral commission overnight Friday after the party’s head office missed the Wednesday noon deadline to lodge the necessary paperwork to nominate all of its candidates for the local government elections on 14 September.
Guardian Australia understands Harwin gave the electoral commission until 4pm on Saturday to respond, and that the letter detailed “issues” with the electoral process.
It is understood that the letter also pointed to a section of the Local Government Act outlining that there is discretion around the nomination deadline of the fifth Wednesday before polling day, with the election manager able to determine a different date “in a particular case”.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that the party was preparing to take legal action against the electoral commission if this discretion was not used to grant an extension.
But on Saturday afternoon a spokeswoman for the commissioner said he “has determined not to extend the nomination period”.
It comes after the fiasco cost the party’s state director, Richard Shields, his job. In a statement issued after an emergency meeting late on Thursday night, Harwin said the executive had unanimously decided to terminate Shields’ employment.
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The party is also facing a potential class action from “furious” candidates over the debacle, with Centennial Lawyers investigating a class action on behalf of the Liberal councillors.
Former Waverley mayor and lawyer for the firm, George Newhouse, said he had Liberal party members reach out to him following the incident and was now seeking advice from barristers.
Newhouse wouldn’t say how many had reached out, adding members were reluctant to come forward out of fear taking action would impact their careers with the party.
“I’m concerned about the people that have lost the opportunity to run,” he said.
“We’re working on a situation right now where around 150 liberal candidates have been locked out from the election,” he said.
The NSW opposition leader, Mark Speakman, on Thursday conceded the “monumental stuff-up” would damage the Liberals’ brand, including at future state and possibly federal elections.
On Friday, the Liberal party issued a statement saying what had occurred was a “setback” and “simply not good enough”, but added that the mistake “will not define us”.
