Sunday afternoon’s antics at the annual general meeting of the Gilmore Federal Electoral Conference demonstrated quite the opposite. The rolling of the body charged with supporting the federal member put another nail in the coffin of a longstanding grip on local Liberal Party power enjoyed by Joanna Gash and her supporters for over two decades. 

It was an important victory for the moderate faction over the hard right. More importantly, it showed the factionalism our federal politicians tried unconvincingly to tell us was over was anything but.

All that was different about Sunday’s coup, enacted at the Bomaderry Bowling Club under the gaze of the new Foreign Minister Marise Payne, was the outpouring of incandescent rage from Ann Sudmalis and her longstanding mentor Joanna Gash.

Mrs Sudmalis let fly in the meeting room and after that in the car park. By comparison, the visible reactions to Mr Turnbull’s assassination were far more measured, mature and statesmanlike.

Mrs Gash could not contain her anger, venting first on ABC radio on Monday morning and then on the evening bulletins of the commercial TV stations. For her part, a calmer Mrs Sudmalis stayed mum, unlike Mrs Gash observing the rule that internal party matters were not for public consumption. Breaching this rule can invoke disciplinary action, up to and including suspension from the party.

Mrs Gash pointed the finger at a state MP, whom she stopped short of naming, for orchestrating the FEC coup. She made the accusation that papers were circulating during the meeting directing party members how to vote.

Mrs Sudmalis now finds herself in perilous territory. The new president of the FEC is Adam Straney, a former staffer who parted ways with the Gilmore MP only a short time into his tenure. There is no love lost between them. The secretary is Jan Gregory, who is no fan of Joanna Gash, Mrs Sudmalis’s principal backer. Just how this new arrangement is going to work is anyone’s guess.