The Victorian Liberal Party appears to have repeated in Hastings the same top-down play it used in Nepean, where Anthony Marsh was hand-picked after rank-and-file members were denied a genuine say. STPL News understands political staffer Frank Schiefler was endorsed last night as the party’s candidate for Hastings, with a formal public announcement still pending.
This is not a criticism of Schiefler personally. The issue is the process, and the message it sends when local members are again shut out of a meaningful vote.
A Pattern Is Emerging
This is no longer an isolated complaint or a one-off internal dispute. In Nepean, the Liberal Party denied local branch members a proper ballot and instead handed the decision to party powerbrokers. The result was anger, frustration and a growing sense among grassroots members that their role is to campaign, donate and stay loyal, but not to actually decide who represents them.
Now Hastings appears to have followed the same script.
That should surprise nobody. Earlier this month, Hastings preselection hopeful Shane Osborne withdrew and joined One Nation. That alone should have been a warning sign for a party already struggling to keep its own support base together. Instead, it appears the Liberals have pressed on with the same approach that has already caused damage elsewhere.
Why this is a problem
To be clear, this is not about Frank Schiefler as an individual. I do not know him, and this is not a judgement on his character, his community ties or his suitability as a candidate. He may well prove to be capable, credible and locally engaged.
But that is not the point.
The issue is that the Victorian Liberal Party again appears to have decided it knows best, while rank-and-file members were left on the sidelines. That is where the criticism belongs.
Members Are Being Shut Out
This is the lesson the Liberals still do not seem willing to learn. Political parties can survive disagreement. They can survive policy arguments, factional tension and bruising internal contests. What they do not survive easily is the repeated perception that ordinary members are good enough to pay fees, hand out leaflets and knock on doors, but not good enough to have a real say in choosing their own candidate.
That kind of behaviour breeds resentment. It drives away loyal members. It makes long-term supporters feel irrelevant. And it creates an opening for rival parties like One Nation to present themselves as the new home for disillusioned conservatives.
The Liberals are not simply losing people by accident. In many cases, they are pushing them out.
Hastings Is Not a Seat They Can Afford to Misread
That matters because Hastings is not a seat the Liberals can afford to treat carelessly. It is exactly the sort of contest where grassroots anger, internal bitterness and drifting conservative votes can have serious electoral consequences.
If a party wants to win marginal or contested ground, it needs energy, unity and trust. It needs members who feel invested. It needs supporters who feel heard. It needs volunteers who believe the local candidate is genuinely their candidate.
A hand-picked process does the opposite. It sends the message that decisions are made at the top and handed down. It tells the party base to fall into line and accept the outcome.
That is not strength. It is arrogance.
The Broader Picture Is Just as Damaging
All of this is happening while the Victorian Liberals remain consumed by wider internal turmoil, including the continuing Moira Deeming saga. That backdrop only makes developments in Hastings look worse. At a time when the party should be rebuilding confidence and showing it has learned from recent controversies, it instead appears to be repeating the same old mistakes.
That is what makes this so politically damaging. It is not just the decision itself. It is what the decision says about the culture of the party. Instead of opening up and rebuilding trust, the Liberals appear to be doubling down on control.
The Cost May Be Higher Than They Think
The political cost should not be difficult to understand.
Members leave.
Supporters lose faith.
Voters look elsewhere.
And parties like One Nation are more than happy to offer those disaffected conservatives somewhere else to go.
The Victorian Liberal Party keeps acting as though these internal decisions exist in a vacuum. They do not. Every top-down preselection, every slight against the grassroots, every decision that appears managed from above chips away at the party’s credibility with its own base.
Final Word
Hastings is not just another preselection contest. It is another warning sign.
If the Victorian Liberals keep treating their own members as an inconvenience, they should not be surprised when those members stop acting like loyal foot soldiers. If they keep shutting out the grassroots and expecting automatic obedience, they should not be surprised when voters and volunteers drift elsewhere.
In the end, the Victorian Liberal Party’s arrogance may well be its downfall.
