00:00The State's Liberal Party has effectively missed the boat in contesting seven key local
00:06government areas in Sydney and surrounds.
00:09By not filing the correct paperwork in time, the Liberals will be unable to field candidates
00:13in the local government areas of Camden, Shoalhaven, Lane Cove, Campbelltown, the Northern Beaches,
00:19Blue Mountains and Wollongong.
00:21It's also understood that in five other areas, some candidates have been nominated while
00:26others have missed out.
00:28Candidates in the areas of Canterbury-Bankstown, George's River, Maitland, North Sydney and
00:32Penrith.
00:33It's not currently known how many will miss out, however, the ballots will be released
00:37later today that will show who's on the ballots and who has missed out.
00:42Look, at the end of the day, filing nominations should be a basic administrative procedure.
00:49It cannot be a lack of resources.
00:52You can't blame it on that.
00:53If you don't think you've got enough resources, then you put on more resources, including
00:57volunteers.
00:58And if you still don't think you've got enough to run a centralised process, you tell the
01:02candidates that they need to lodge their nominations themselves.
01:05This is a matter of operational competence, it is a matter for the State Director.
01:10There has been some response to this already.
01:12The State's Liberal Director, Richard Shields, has come out and said it's due to some under-resourcing
01:17at the party.
01:18He's also apologised in a statement.
01:20He said, on behalf of the Secretariat, I would like to apologise to Liberal endorsed councillors
01:25that were not nominated, and to the party membership more broadly.
01:29Several prominent members of the Liberal Party have also responded, with some feeling very
01:34upset that this has occurred.
01:36Liberal frontbencher Anthony Roberts has called it a, quote, catastrophic failure.
01:40He's told the ABC heads need to roll as a result, and has called for an urgent party
01:45room meeting.
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