In key election battlegrounds, the Liberal party is nowhere to be seen

Unpicking the factional grievances at play in NSW requires both a PhD in internal Liberal party politics and a lot of spare time, but at its heart, predictably, is power, as well as a handful of administrative rules introduced in 2017 with the intention of making the party more democratic.

But by failing to protect sitting MPs, the rules have created a headache for Morrison in the lead-up to the election. Two ministers, Sussan Ley in Farrer and Alex Hawke in the Sydney seat of Mitchell, are yet to be endorsed, as is the influential moderate in North Sydney, Trent Zimmerman.

The reasons are complicated and contradictory, but relate both to a desire for local preselections and a failure to settle on a deal on the other remaining seats which can appease all three groups.

On Thursday, the state executive came up with what they thought was a compromise, asking the federal executive to intervene in a limited fashion allowing them only to reappoint the existing state executive until it was able to hold a general meeting next month.

But the federal executive, of which Morrison is a member, came back with its own proposal: endorse the three sitting MPs within 10 days or else face federal intervention.

The NSW executive now faces a daunting task. Either overcome the impasse, or else face a federal takeover. While members were in discussions on Friday ahead of a likely ballot decision next week, there is hardly a consensus on a way forward.