The NSW Liberal briefing wars continue unabated today. It’s an
interesting illustration in how factionalism in the Liberal Party works.

Because Liberal factions are less formalised, the party does not
see the direct confrontation between different groups that characterises so
much internal argy-bargy in the ALP. Instead, they work through whispering
campaigns, by undermining each other. Miranda Devine’s description of Opus Dei
as a “mainstream Catholic movement” says all you need to know about her effort in
the SMH today. With party bigots deserving to be left out,
and her claim “the left is using foul tactics to
discredit people who reflect grassroots support,” it’s pretty clear where she’s
coming from.

There’s also very little new in the
Herald’s report on David Clarke‘s friendsamongst sympathisers of the right wing Croatian militia, the Ustachi.

Its paraphrasing of this week’s Australian
Jewish News is interesting: “The latest edition of the Australian Jewish News,
published today, has a scathing attack on Mr Clarke, accusing
him of exploiting anti-Semitic sentiments among Croats and Muslims to recruit
new members to the NSW Liberal Party. The newspaper has interviewed a former
Liberal Party branch president who alleges on the condition of anonymity that Mr Clarke recruited
several Croats with Ustashi links to the party. Ustashi was the fascist militia
movement that ruled Croatian territories from 1941 to 1945 and which committed
Nazi-like atrocities against Jews.”

However, David Leser has
already comprehensively exposed the links between these charmers and the
respectable right of the NSW Liberals in his 1994 book Bronwyn Bishop: A Woman
in Pursuit of Power.

We do move into new territory with The
Daily Telegraph‘s lead story Brogden seat battleand claims that “Liberal Party members loyal to John Brogden have
gone into meltdown over fears a battle to steal his seat has begun – while he
is recovering from his attempted suicide.”

According to the Tele former
Young Liberal President Jason Falinski wants
to take over Brogden’s seat of Pittwater if he resigns – and transferred his
membership to the electorate from the Point Piper branch the week before
Brogden was forced to stand down as leader.

“Mr Falinski was a contemporary of Mr Brogden and Liberal
MPs Andrew Constance and Gladys Berejiklian during their Young Liberal days,” The Telegraph states.

Have the left in the NSW Liberal Party heeded
the Prime Minister’s call and stopped fighting the right – only to turn on each
other? Or is this just the latest claim in a ruthless campaign of undermining
where the facts all too often are going missing?