“Disarray” is probably too generous. “Divided” doesn’t begin to explain it.  Let’s try “disaster”. The Queensland Liberal Party is immolating itself before our eyes as pro-merger forces threaten court action  to overturn last night’s emergency Liberal State Council outcome, and others simply urge Liberal delegates to show up at tomorrow’s cancelled convention anyway.  Meantime, the Nationals are charging ahead with a new conservative party.

Last night’s meeting, which narrowly agreed to delay the merger with the Queensland Nationals was, Liberal sources say, one of the most acrimonious in the division’s history.

Along with Mal Brough, Federal Liberal president Alan Stockdale also attended the meeting, and Senator George Brandis as Brendan Nelson’s representative (ahead of Ian McFarlane, who is strongly-pro merger). The first hour of the meeting was taken up with points of order, with pro-merger forces — in part orchestrated by Santo Santoro’s faction — furious that Brough was trying to head off the convention less than 48 hours before its commencement.

In the end, however, Brough’s motion to “postpone the Constitutional Convention presently convened by the State Council for 26 and 27 July” was passed 26-21. Stockdale and Nelson — who cast his vote through the president, not through Brandis — voted in favour.

Pro-merger forces, including State Liberal leader Mark McArdle, were expected to go to court at lunchtime to overturn the decision. McArdle himself has called a partyroom meeting for this afternoon, with many assuming he will announce he is resigning the leadership to throw in his lot in with the Nationals.  He and Santoro faction spear carrier and nominee for presidency of the new party Gary Spence spent this morning at the Nationals’ convention. 

McArdle, deputy Tim Nicholls, and MPs Steve Dickson and Ray Stevens are all expected to defect to the new party regardless of formal Liberal involvement.  Brough and Stockdale have also called their own press conference for 1pm.

This fairly accurately conveys the bitterness of the divide between both pro- and anti-merger forces, and pro-merger forces and those who favour a merger, but on a far more equal footing than proposed by the Nationals. 

There were pro-merger protestors outside last night’s meeting, and there have been furious email exchanges among Liberals all week (Senator Sue Boyce, who is opposed to the merger, has been threatened by pro-merger members). Once the decision became clear last night, one State Electorate Council representative from North Queensland immediately declared that their branch would be resigning and joining the new party. 

However, many members present at the Council meeting complained about the lack of information about the merger, and of being asked to vote for something they didn’t fully understand. There were a number of complaints about the failure of the party executive to circulate information about the merger process, which begs the question of what many of the 80+% of Liberal members who voted for the proposal thought they were voting for.

On an unrelated issue, but adding to the chaos, Liberal state director Geoff Greene is reported to have been suspended after last night’s meeting.