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The Clan (Liberal Party of Australia)

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The Clan was a WhatsApp chat group involving members of the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. The chat group was active between 2016 and 2021 and was used to coordinate activities within the Liberal Party. The group was revealed in 2021 after its contents were leaked to the media. Prominent members included former senator for Western Australia Mathias Cormann and Legislative Councillors Peter Collier and Nick Goiran.

Members

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Members in the chat group included:[1][2]

WhatsApp messages leak

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The chat was revealed with a leak of 700 pages of messages in August 2021. Amongst these pages, some members of the chat group discussed or joked about branch stacking. The leaked messages show that the group was primarily used to coordinate voting at internal party meetings within the organisational wing of the WA Liberal Party.[1][2]

Influence

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Australia's longest-serving Finance Minister, Mathias Cormann, was a member of the chat group.[4] Liberal Party State President Fay Duda was also in the group.[3]

Ahead of the 2017 state election, Goiran's preferred candidate for the re-drawn seat of Bateman, backbench MP Matt Taylor, lost the preselection to then-minister Dean Nalder in a 69 to 50 vote of State Council.[5] Nalder then went on to launch an unsuccessful leadership challenge against then-Premier and leader of the Liberal Party, Colin Barnett.[6]

Brockman received support from members of the group when he stood for preselection to the Senate in 2017.[1]

During preselection for the 2018 Cottesloe state by-election, Collier, a member of the WhatsApp group, unsuccessfully backed BHP lawyer Emma Roberts over David Honey, who eventually won preselection.[1]

The 2020 Western Australian Liberal Party leadership election was influenced by two of the chat group's members, Collier and Goiran, who backed Zak Kirkup over Dean Nalder. In a statement made by Nalder upon his retirement announcement a week later, he criticised the factional forces within the Liberal Party, who backed Kirkup over himself. He said that he could never become leader in the future as he could not secure the majority support of the party room without Collier and Goiran.[7][8] Days later, he quit his shadow cabinet roles, including shadow treasurer.[9][10]

Fallout

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Duda initially maintained that she would renominate for her fourth year as president, due to begin in October 2021,[3] but announced on 27 August that she would not renominate.[11][12][13]

The Liberal Reform Coalition, a group formed after the leak of the WhatsApp messages by longstanding factional enemies of Collier and Goiran such as Norman Moore, called for their resignation from the party at their inaugural meeting in December 2021.[14][15]

Several Liberal Party branches in the southern suburbs of Perth requested that the party send Goiran to the party's appeals and disciplinary committee, which has the power to censure, suspend or expel any member of the party.[16][17] In January 2022, an investigation into Goiran was launched by the committee.[18] On 31 August 2022, media reports indicated that Goiran had been cleared of the charges due to a lack of evidence he had breached any party rules or procedures.[19]

An addendum to a Liberal Party report into the 2021 election loss, written by two party members, Danielle Blain and Mark Trowell, described some members of the chat group as exhibiting "odious behaviour".[20] Goiran threatened legal action against the Liberal Party's state director and the authors of the report, with his lawyer saying that allegations in the report were "totally false, without basis and constitute serious defamation of him".[21] Goiran and the Liberal Party reached a non-financial settlement in February 2022, with the party agreeing to withdraw the addendum.[22]

Following Libby Mettam's election as Liberal Party leader in a leadership spill in January 2023, Collier issued an apology for the "inappropriate" language he used in the WhatsApp group.[23] Mettam soon removed Goiran from the shadow cabinet, making him the only member of the opposition not in the shadow cabinet.[24][25] According to WAtoday, Goiran would have likely not been removed from shadow cabinet if he had apologised like Collier did.[26] Mettam also tried to removed Goiran as the Liberal Party parliamentary secretary but a majority of Liberal MPs voted against that motion.[27][28] Three days later, Goiran resigned as the parliamentary secretary.[29][30]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Zimmerman, Josh; Law, Peter (20 August 2021). "Leaked WhatsApp texts between WA Liberals group 'The Clan' expose Mathias Cormann, Peter Collier, Nick Goiran". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 4 February 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  2. ^ a b Adshead, Gary (20 August 2021). "Secret Liberal WhatsApp group probed in post-mortem of WA party's election wipe-out". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 1 February 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b c Law, Peter (24 August 2021). "WA Liberal Party president Fay Duda 'will nominate for fourth year in role'". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  4. ^ Wright, Shane (2020-07-05). "He won't be back: Cormann hits his limit after a record run". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  5. ^ Parker, Gareth (2022-07-12). "WA Liberal warlords must put down their swords and look beyond short-term battles". WAtoday. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  6. ^ "The leadership showdown as it happened". The West Australian. 2016-09-20. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  7. ^ Hastie, Hamish (1 December 2020). "'It's not in my nature to play games': Dean Nalder quits politics". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  8. ^ Kagi, Jacob (2 December 2020). "Dean Nalder, former Barnett government minister, to quit politics ahead of WA election". ABC News. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  9. ^ Rimrod, Fran; Hastie, Hamish (5 December 2020). "Dean Nalder quits shadow treasury just days after announcing retirement". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 24 December 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  10. ^ Law, Peter (7 December 2020). "Sean L'Estrange named as Dean Nalder's replacement as shadow treasurer in Zak Kirkup's new Liberal frontbench". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 7 December 2020. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  11. ^ Zimmerman, Josh (27 August 2021). "Fay Duda backflips on decision to re-contest WA Liberal presidency". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 August 2021. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  12. ^ Png, Kenith (27 August 2021). "WA Liberals president Fay Duda announces she will not seek re-election". ABC News. Archived from the original on 23 April 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  13. ^ Hastie, Hamish (28 August 2021). "Duda to step down as WA Liberals president ahead of humiliating election loss review". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 1 November 2022. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  14. ^ Law, Peter (1 December 2021). "Liberal Reform Coalition call for Clan members Nick Goiran and Peter Collier to 'immediately resign'". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  15. ^ Thompson, Holly (2 December 2021). "Renewed push for WA Liberal MPs Collier and Goiran to resign". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  16. ^ Law, Peter (28 October 2021). "Nick Goiran and Peter Collier: WA Liberal Party start attempt to expel Upper House MPs". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  17. ^ Law, Peter (30 November 2021). "Nick Goiran facing new push to have him expelled from WA Liberal Party over The Clan WhatsApp messages". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Libs' bigwig set to face the music". The West Australian. 13 January 2022. p. 3.
  19. ^ "Liberal probe clears Nick Goiran over 'The Clan' messages". The West Australian. 2022-08-31. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
  20. ^ Adshead, Gary (2 September 2021). "Liberal review authors call for reform after 'The Clan' WhatsApp messages declared valid". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  21. ^ Law, Peter (7 September 2021). "Nick Goiran: Liberal MP issues defamation threat against party's State director". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  22. ^ Law, Peter (8 February 2022). "WA Liberals back down over Nick Goiran stoush". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 27 February 2022. Retrieved 27 February 2022.
  23. ^ Zimmerman, Josh (30 January 2023). "The Clan: Liberal MP Peter Collier apologises over Whatsapp message scandal". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 20 March 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  24. ^ Zimmerman, Josh (7 February 2023). "Winners and losers from the WA Liberal party's new-look Opposition shadow cabinet". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 7 February 2023. Retrieved 7 February 2023.
  25. ^ Murray, Jordan (7 February 2023). "Mettam makes good on Goiran threats". Business News. Archived from the original on 8 February 2023. Retrieved 8 February 2023.
  26. ^ Hastie, ha (31 January 2023). "Goiran may have saved his jobs if he apologised for role in 'The Clan'". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 16 March 2023. Retrieved 25 April 2023.
  27. ^ Perpitch, Nicolas (30 January 2023). "New WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam moves to quash influence of factional powerbrokers". ABC News. Archived from the original on 5 February 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  28. ^ Genovese, Michael; Hastie, Hamish (30 January 2023). "New WA Liberal leader to strip 'The Clan' member Goiran of shadow ministries". WAtoday. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
  29. ^ Bourke, Keane; Carmody, James (2 February 2023). "New WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam succeeds in removing Nick Goiran as he relinquishes role". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
  30. ^ Zimmerman, Josh (2 February 2023). "New Liberal leader Libby Mettam refuses to discuss Nick Goiran's party future after voluntarily standing down". The West Australian. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
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