Alex Hawke fails to appear in supreme court for NSW Liberal party preselection case

The federal immigration minister, Alex Hawke, has failed to appear in the New South Wales supreme court, despite being named as the first defendant in a case that will determine whether the NSW Liberal party branch can continue to operate beyond 28 February.

Scott Robertson SC, appearing for the plaintiff, Liberal state executive member Matthew Camenzuli, told the court considerable efforts had been made to reach the minister, including the service of court documents, emails and phone calls.

There is no legal requirement for a defendant to respond to a civil summons but as Sacker noted they should be given an opportunity to put their case.

The second and third defendants, the NSW Liberal party president, Phillip Ruddock, and the federal president, John Olsen, were represented by senior counsel, but have indicated they do not intend to make submissions.

Camenzuli wants a declaration from the court that the state executive remains validly elected. The court agreed to hear the case on Thursday.

The stalled AGM is part of a much broader factional power struggle that has left the NSW Liberal party hamstrung and without candidates in nine winnable seats just months before a federal election.

They include North Sydney, Mitchell and Farrer, which have sitting MPs (including Hawke himself) as well as Warringah, Hughes, Dobell, Bennelong, and Parramatta.

Internal critics say that to date, Hawke has failed to make himself available to review the possible candidates for preselection, stalling the process.

Some members of the party accuse him and Morrison, who are leading figures in the centre right faction in NSW, of attempting to engineer a crisis that will require federal intervention.

This would enable Morrison to have a greater say over candidates.

NSW factional leaders, on the other hand, have been attempting to negotiate a deal which will fill the nine seats administratively without the need to have plebiscites.

With 90% support from the 29-member state executive required to endorse appointments, the factional organisers have struggled to pass their complex peace deal.

The federal branch is due to consider intervention again on 3 March.

Attempts to contact Hawke were unsuccessful.