The Clan (Liberal Party of Australia)

The Clan is a group within the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. The Clan used WhatsApp between 2016 and 2021 to discuss branch stacking, among other things. The group was revealed in 2021. Prominent members included former senator for Western Australia Mathias Cormann and Legislative Councillors Peter Collier and Nick Goiran.

Members

Members of the Clan include:[1][2]

WhatsApp messages leak

The Clan was revealed in the leak of 700 pages of the group's WhatsApp messages in August 2021. This revealed that the Clan was discussing branch stacking, whereby they would get their supporters to prominent party positions and get preselected to contest elections.[1][2]

Influence

Liberal Party State President Fay Duda gained her position with the support of the Clan.[3] Brockman gained his position as senator due to the support of the Clan.[1]

During preselection for the 2018 Cottesloe state by-election, the Clan backed BHP lawyer Emma Roberts over David Honey, who eventually won preselection.[1]

The 2020 Western Australian Liberal Party leadership election was influenced by the Clan, 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 did not have the backing of Collier and Goiran.[4][5] Days later, he quit his shadow cabinet roles, including shadow treasurer.[6][7]

Fallout

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.[8][9][10]

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.[11][12] The Liberal Reform Coalition, a group formed to improve the public image of the party, called for Goiran and Collier's resignation from the party at the group's inaugural meeting in December 2021.[13][14] In January 2022, an investigation into Goiran was launched by the party's appeals and disciplinary committee.[15]

In an addendum to a Liberal Party report which reviewed the party's 2021 election loss, the members of The Clan were described as exhibiting "odious behaviour".[16] 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".[17] Goiran and the Liberal Party reached a non-financial settlement in February 2022, with the party agreeing to withdraw the report.[18]

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 on the WhatsApp group.[19] Mettam soon removed Goiran from the shadow cabinet, making him the only member of the opposition not in the shadow cabinet.[20][21] According to WAtoday, Goiran would have likely not been removed from shadow cabinet if he had apologised like Collier did.[22] Mettam also tried to removed Goiran as the Liberal Party parliamentary secretary but a majority of Liberal MPs voted against that motion.[23][24] Three days later, Goiran resigned as the parliamentary secretary.[25][26]

References
  1. 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. 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. 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. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. 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.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. "Libs' bigwig set to face the music". The West Australian. 13 January 2022. p. 3.
  16. 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.
  17. 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.
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
  26. 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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