A local mayor who is the leading contender to replace outgoing Nepean MP Sam Groth for the Liberal Party is under fire for previously campaigning as a fierce independent who had no ambitions to leapfrog to state parliament.
Three-time Mornington Peninsula Shire Mayor Anthony Marsh confirmed on Monday night that he had applied for preselection with the Liberal Party. The move triggered consternation among his fellow councillors, who will hold their first meeting of the year on Tuesday night.
Former deputy opposition leader Sam Groth resigned from parliament last week, forcing his electorate to the polls for a byelection just months before the state election in November.
According to Liberal sources, Marsh only applied to join the party last Tuesday. Other nominees to be the Liberal candidate include David Burgess, Briony Camp, Nathan Conroy and Bree Ambry.
The usual rule that requires members to wait two years before running for election was waived for Marsh. Instead of a branch vote, which takes three weeks, the candidate for the seat will be chosen by about 20 members of party’s state executive and a handful of members of the Nepean state electorate conference in a vote on February 24. The expedited process is allowed under the party’s rules.
The Age has seen a draft no-confidence motion targeting the mayor circulating on Tuesday and intended to be raised at the council meeting on Tuesday night. The motion alleges Marsh misled colleagues and the community over his political ambitions. It is unclear whether the motion will be ruled eligible under the council’s governance rules.
Marsh told The Age in a survey before the 2024 council elections that he was not a member of a political party. He repeated the statement in his official Victorian Electoral Commission candidate statement, promising he was committed to the council “for the long haul”.
“I have no political affiliations. This is not a career for me, and I won’t disappear to run for parliament – I’m in it for the long haul!” the statement read.
Marsh also told other media outlets just last month that he was “not running for Nepean, nor am I a member of the Liberal Party”.
Federal Liberal MP for Flinders Zoe McKenzie, who is involved in the candidacy process, suggested five weeks ago that rumours Marsh was considering a run were “silly stories spread by people with too much time on their hands”. She posted these comments from her official Facebook page.
Marsh has been contacted for comment.
He turned off comments on his post confirming his tilt at Nepean as a Liberal on his official council Facebook page on Monday night.
“I have received overwhelming encouragement from local members, community leaders and residents since the byelection was announced, and I am grateful for that support,” his post read. “In accordance with Liberal Party rules, I will not be making further public comment during the preselection process.”
Marsh was first elected to the council in 2020. He has been mayor three times over the past five years.
Mornington Peninsula has been in some turmoil during the current term under Marsh’s leadership: Local Government Minister Nick Staikos appointed monitors for 12 months in December to “support the council to improve its governance processes and practices”.
The Nepean byelection is likely to cost more than $2 million based on previous costs for the Werribee and Prahran byelections. The Age has confirmed the teal independents movement will announce a candidate by the end of February, while One Nation is poised to announce a candidate once writs are issued by the Speaker of the House, which could be as soon as this week.
Should Marsh win preselection, he would step down from his role on the council temporarily during the byelection. If successful in the byelection, he would be required to resign from his councillor role, which would in turn trigger a costly council byelection for his Briars ward, which takes in the Mount Martha area.
The Age recently revealed the skyrocketing costs of council byelections for ratepayers. The costs have jumped from about $1000 to as much as $180,000 because cheaper “countbacks” aren’t allowed under the new single-member ward structure.
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Rachael Dexter is a journalist in the City team at The Age. Contact her at rachael.dexter@theage.com.au, rachaeldexter@protonmail.com, or via Signal at @rachaeldexter.58Connect via Facebook or email.