Australia’s political parties are confronting a long-standing issue that has been gradually worsening over many years: the decline in party membership and the diminishing local political machinery that historically supported them.
Across Australia, party membership makes up less than 1 per cent of the electorate. In many federal seats, the number of people selecting a party’s parliamentary candidate can be counted in the dozens. In some documented cases, for example, Cook in 2007, which selected Scott Morrison, a few dozen people formed the preselection council for an electorate of about 90,000 voters.
The membership model might have worked well when parties were big organisations with strong local ties. It becomes less effective when the voting pool is small, voters judge candidates on their own brand, and independent campaigns can quickly gather community support.
The Liberal Party has felt this shift most sharply in recent elections. Independent candidates have won or seriously threatened historically safe Liberal seats by presenting themselves as credible community representatives rather than party figures.
Campaigns in seats such as Warringah, Kooyong, and Wentworth, each of which has provided at least one Liberal Prime Minister, an Independent demonstrated that voters would rally behind candidates who appear locally legitimate and capable.
For the Liberal Party, the lesson should not simply be defensive. It should prompt a rethink of how candidates are chosen and offer an exit ramp from the constraints of party factionalism.
One promising reform would be the introduction of community primaries in selected electorates. Under a community primary system, candidate selection would no longer be limited to a small group of party insiders. Party members would still have full voting rights, but local voters could also register as party supporters for a modest administrative fee and help choose the party’s candidate.
Participation would require registration before the vote, proof of residence in the electorate, and a declaration of support for the party’s principles. In effect, the selectorate would expand from dozens of party members to potentially thousands of engaged supporters.
This approach falls between traditional member-only pre-selections and fully open primaries. It maintains the party’s identity while increasing democratic participation.
The advantages are significant.
First, community primaries would expand the pool of candidates. Many capable people avoid entering politics because they think party pre-selections are controlled by factional networks or internal alliances. If candidates could directly appeal to a broader group of local supporters, professionals, community leaders, and entrepreneurs might be more willing to step forward.
Second, primaries would strengthen candidate legitimacy. A candidate selected by several thousand local supporters can credibly claim to represent the community rather than a narrow internal constituency.
Third, primaries can generate campaign momentum. Candidates competing in a primary must organise volunteers, raise funds, and engage with voters well before the general election campaign begins. By the time the election arrives, the party already has an expanded network of supporters.
Fourth, the system could also be financially self-sustaining. Candidates entering the primary could pay a nomination fee, perhaps in the range of $5,000 to $20,000, which would help defray the administrative costs of running the process. Such fees are common in primary systems internationally and help ensure that candidates are serious contenders.
Voting could incorporate optional preferential voting, a system Australians are already familiar with. Voters would rank candidates by preference, ensuring the final winner has widespread support.
Importantly, this reform doesn’t have to be implemented nationwide. The Liberal Party could begin with pilot programs in a few electorates where traditional pre-selections are unlikely to grab enough attention and support to overcome an incumbent.
Metropolitan seats facing unique challenges, growth-corridor electorates with declining party loyalty, and regional seats with strong local identity would all be candidates for testing. Testing the model in a few electorates would provide useful evidence on whether it boosts candidate recruitment and electoral competitiveness.
Community primaries won’t solve every problem facing political parties, but they provide a practical way to reconnect parties with the communities they aim to serve. Rather than seeing primaries as a threat to party organisation, the Liberal Party should view them as a way to renew it.
At a time when political trust is fragile and voter loyalty is becoming more fluid, opening up to broader participation might be one of the most effective ways for parties to restore their legitimacy.
Graham Young was a former vice president of the Liberal Party, and Gary Johns was a minister in a Labor government.
