Coalition campaign headquarters moves to Sydney

The Coalition is expected to base its campaign headquarters out of Sydney at the next federal election, Sky News NSW Political Reporter Julia Bradley reports. Party sources have told Sky News the decision was made some time ago. For the past two federal elections, Coalition campaign headquarters (CHQ), the nerve centre behind the party’s campaign, was based in Brisbane. Sky News understands the party has secured space for its CHQ in Greater Sydney. The joint Liberal and National headquarters are normally frequented by party heavyweights. The Labor Party based its CHQ out of Sydney’s CBD in 2022 and out of Parramatta in Western Sydney in 2019. The decision illustrates how crucial the Coalition believes the state of New South Wales will be to its election prospects. The party will fight to win back marginal seats such as Gilmore, Bennelong and Roberston from Labor as well as seats such as Mackellar and Wentworth from Teal independents. One source told Sky News the move “ups the stakes a bit” and that it is a “pretty logical decision”. Sky News understands the Coalition’s decision to shift its CHQ to Sydney pre-dates the New South Wales council nominations bungle, which saw the Liberal Party’s state executive fail to lodge nominations for 140 candidates for the upcoming local government elections. Former Liberal Party Federal Director Brian Loughnane has been tasked with conducting a review of the state branch, examining what caused the nominations issue as well as the preparedness of the New South Wales division going into the next federal election. Some party figures are calling for the federal executive to intervene to run the New South Wales branch. The report will be considered in a meeting of the federal executive at 2.30pm on Tuesday.