Howard Ong favourite for Liberal preselection in WA Federal seat of Tangney unless wild card nominates

Howard Ong is the favourite to win the Liberal candidacy for the seat of Tangney — unless a wild card entrant comes forward. The former Australian Christian Lobby activist, who finished a distance second to in the April preselection race to SAS veteran and two-time Survivor contestant Mark Wales, will likely be given the candidacy after the Liberal State Council met on Friday. Mr Wales originally easily won preselection for the Federal seat, getting more than 100 votes of about 150 cast, but was in May forced to quit the candidacy because of family health reasons. His win on the first count meant there was no distribution of preferences. Mr Ong was second with less than 50 votes, while all other candidates — including alleged local election sign stealer Jesse Jacobs, former party staffer Sean Ayres, engineer Bill Koul and Melville councillor Jenny Spanbroek — failed to attract support in the double digits. The West revealed that State Council’s original agenda ahead of Friday’s meeting included a motion to take the preselection decision away from local branches — and for council to pick the candidate after nominations closed on May 29. A revised motion, sent out hours before the meeting and passed after some debate, states that if only candidates who ran in the April preselection nominate, than the person “with the greatest number of votes at the Tangney preselection meeting held on 6 April 2024” will be endorsed. With Mr Wales out of the picture, that becomes Mr Ong. However, a new preselection vote can be held if someone who did not nominate in April puts their hand up by May 29. After a nearly 12 per cent swing in 2022, the division is represented by Labor’s Sam Lim on a 2.4 per cent margin — the narrowest of any seat held by the Albanese Government in WA. It had long been considered a Liberal blue-ribbon stronghold but Ben Morton — a key ally of Scott Morrison — was defeated as voters in the west turned against the Coalition in droves. The closure of preselection nominations on Wednesday comes two days before the Australian Electoral Commission will release draft boundary changes that could affect Mr Lim’s margin in either direction. Mr Wales drew controversy ahead of his preselection win after The West revealed his upcoming book, Outrider, included a plot point about an Australian civil war triggered by Chinese Government influence. City of Canning mayor Patrick Hall spent just hours as a preselection contender before dropping out after media coverage of the entry into the race of Mr Jacobs, who is charged with stealing the mayor’s local government election signs last year. Mr Hall confirmed that he would not re-enter the race and endorsed Mr Ong.