High-profile Liberal woman quits party to run as independent after alleging ?inappropriate? behaviour

A high-profile NSW Liberal woman is quitting to run as an independent at the next federal election, partly to protest the handling of an internal complaint in which she alleged "inappropriate" behaviour by some senior men within the party and government.

Natalie Baini, a lawyer and sports administrator who nominated as a Liberal candidate for the marginal Sydney seat of Reid in May, is withdrawing from the preselection process and quitting the party to run as an independent.

Her decision is also due to her concerns about the preselection process, with expectations growing the Liberals will not allow a ballot of members in the seat that would have seen her compete against the sitting moderate MP, Fiona Martin.

Baini, who advised the party on Monday that she would be withdrawing from the preselection race and cancelling her membership, told Guardian Australia she had initially decided to nominate after being approached by party faithful unhappy with their representation in Canberra.

She accused the Morrison government of paying "lip service" to women's issues, saying she had raised "serious concerns" with the NSW state division about the alleged conduct of some senior individuals in the party, and she was yet to receive a response.

"It is astonishing the level of dismissiveness with which those concerns have been met," Baini said.

"At the same time, I see a government paying lip service to this notion of respect at work and the protection of women and I believe that the concerns that I have raised have caused the party to sweep yet another critical issue under the rug."