The NSW Liberal Party executive has sacked state director, Richard Shields, after they say he failed to lodge candidate nominations on time for next month’s council elections, leaving the Party without 140 candidates across 16 councils.
The Party’s state executive met last night and found the Woollahra Mayor’s “failure to meet such a fundamental responsibility has rendered his position untenable”.
“The state director was given the opportunity to explain the circumstances to the state executive,” Liberal state president, Don Harwin said in a statement.
“As a result, the state executive has unanimously resolved to terminate the state director’s employment with immediate effect.”
In a snap media conference called late yesterday, Mr Shields appeared to place the blame for the monumental paperwork blunder on Mr Harwin.
“I deeply regret that the Liberal Party, of which I am the state director, failed to meet the deadline for the formal nomination of candidates in a number of local government areas in NSW,” Mr Shields said, reading from a prepared statement.
“This year, my focus, as agreed with Party leaders, has been on preparing for the upcoming Federal Election. To maintain this focus, the NSW state president, Don Harwin, a highly experience Party official and former Minister, volunteered to run the local government nomination process. I had full trust that this would be delivered successfully.
“The state executive, led by Mr Harwin, decides which elections the Party will contest.”
Mr Shields was summoned to last night’s Liberal state executive meeting, where he was sacked.
Mr Shields was only appointed as the Party’s state director in September last year, in the same week that he was elected Mayor of Woollahra.
In a Mayoral Column published two days ago, he wrote of the “great pride” he has felt as Mayor, and as a councillor for the past seven years.
“My seven years as a Woollahra Councillor and the past 12 months as Mayor representing and serving the community I grew up in has been a great privilege and the honour of my lifetime,” he wrote.
“I would like to acknowledge the wonderful support I have received from my fellow councillors, in particular Deputy Mayor Sarah Swan, and the incredible Woollahra Council staff for their commitment to always providing the best possible services for our community.
“While I am not seeking re-election to Council at the 14 September Local Government Election, I remain a Woollahra local and look forward to continuing to engage with community members while out and about in our beautiful local area.”
As a result of the nomination failure, Liberal candidates will not appear on ballot papers for the local government areas of Blue Mountains, Campbelltown, Cessnock, Lane Cove, Maitland, Northern Beaches, Shoalhaven and Wollongong.
Nominations are also believed to be missing from the Camden, Canterbury-Bankstown, Central Coast, Georges River, Hornsby, Newcastle, North Sydney, Penrith, and Queanbeyan Palarang councils.
