The NSW Liberal also facing first big test with the Farrer byelection

The beleaguered NSW division of the Liberal Party is set to go back to the future, with former state director Mark Neeham the frontrunner to return to the job he once held in time to run the Farrer byelection.

The byelection, sparked by the resignation of Sussan Ley, is seen as a crucial early test for newly installed federal leader Angus Taylor, but it would also be a baptism of fire for Neeham, who left politics for the corporate world 10 years ago.

Neeham would also be handed a deeply damaged division, which is being run by a management committee installed after the party infamously failed to nominate candidates for the 2024 local government elections. The embarrassing debacle cost then-state director Richard Shields his job.

Shields worked as Neeham’s deputy in Liberal HQ. Chris Stone, the outgoing state director, replaced Neeham in the top job but was convinced to come back after Shields was sacked.

On Monday, the chair of the management committee, Nick Greiner, confirmed Stone would finish in the role on March 31. In a letter to party members, Greiner thanked Stone for “providing stability and leadership”.

“The Liberal Party owes Chris a significant debt of gratitude for stepping back into the position of state director in very difficult circumstances,” Greiner wrote.

A new state director will also take over the division amid deep-seated unhappiness among many Liberal women. A group was tasked by Greiner to work on a gender quota policy for the party, but that work has been abandoned.

On Sunday, this masthead revealed the founder of a key Liberal women’s network had resigned from the organisation and quit the party altogether.

The resignation of Charlotte Mortlock, who founded Hilma’s Network to boost female representation in the Liberals, came a week after the party dumped a planned vote on quotas. Mortlock worked on the proposal with five other Liberal women.

A former British soldier, Neeham joined the NSW Liberals in 2008 from Western Australia, where he had also served as state director after moving to Australia from Britain with his family in 2004.

Three years later, he oversaw the historic 2011 NSW election victory when Barry O’Farrell won in a landslide and Labor was left to languish in opposition for 12 years.

Neeham was contacted for comment. Greiner was also contacted.

Farrer is shaping to be a crowded contest, with the Liberals, Nationals and One Nation expected to run, as well as independents including Michelle Milthorpe, who secured 20 per cent of the vote at the last federal election.

NSW Liberal MP Justin Clancy has also told colleagues he is considering whether he should attempt a switch to federal politics. This would force Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane to fight a state byelection of her own just one year out from a general election.

NSW state MP for Murray Helen Dalton is also weighing up her options, and could run as an independent. She is also being wooed by One Nation to stand as their candidate.

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