Zed Seselja's bid for senate switch stuns Canberra Liberals

In a move confirming the 46-year-old's political comeback ambitions, Mr Seselja has nominated for NSW Liberal Senate pre-selection and is seen as a right faction front-runner among 10 candidates to replace the just-retired, long-serving moderate senator and minister Marise Payne.

Among his pre-selection rivals are former NSW transport minister and Gilmore candidate Andrew Constance, former Wentworth MP Dave Sharma, Monica Tudehope, Jess Collins and James Brown.

The Canberra Times understands the move by the conservative Morrison government minister has sent shock waves through the Canberra Liberals, a branch that is not far off its own pre-selection battle for the ACT Senate ticket.

"One minute he wants to stand for us and then he wants to stand for someone else. It's a bit shocking to the membership," one senior Liberal source said.

"He claims to really care about the ACT. It looks like he mostly cares about himself."

Mr Seselja also served as the ACT's opposition leader before he ousted sitting Liberal senator Gary Humphries in a bruising 2013 pre-selection battle.

His friend and conservative ally, ACT deputy Liberal leader Jeremy Hanson has welcomed his bid to move to the NSW Senate.

"Zed was a very effective leader of the opposition in Canberra who beat Labor on primary vote, which is no small thing," he said in a statement. "He always stood up for Liberal values as a Senator and was a fierce advocate for Canberra and the region."

"I wish him well with NSW senate preselection and I am sure he would make a valuable contribution if he is successful."

Other Liberal sources have told this masthead that the move appears "out of the blue", "left field" and "opportunistic," and indicates Mr Seselja is ready to say goodbye to the ACT as, whatever the NSW result, it "probably does make a run in the ACT less likely."

It comes ahead of any government decision over territory representation, although the Labor Special Minister of State Don Farrell is favourable to doubling the current two seats to four. Any increase would likely favour the return of an ACT Liberal Senate representative.

One source questioned how Mr Seselja could ever ask ACT voters to vote for him again.

"Good luck to him. To be honest, that's one less problem here," they said.

Under party rules, candidates such as Mr Seselja can't make public comments on the race while the pre-selection process is underway.

The NSW move comes after Mr Humphries, a former ACT Liberal chief minister and senator, described any move in the largely progressive territory towards a Seselja comeback as a "profoundly foolish thing" as he has a "unique ability to lose, not win hearts and minds".

Mr Seselja, who lost his ACT seat to progressive independent David Pocock in the 2022 May federal election, now has a consultancy agency and is still very active in Liberal circles.

The new nomination appears to give context to the appearance by Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton at a party fundraiser in August when he told party faithful that Mr Seselja's "race is not yet run" and "If you're in the trenches, Zed is someone you want by your side."

Conservative allies, Nationals senator Matt Canavan and Liberal MP Michael Sukkar, also endorsed a possible Seselja comeback, with Mr Sukkar suggesting he would "no doubt play a very senior role in the next Coalition government."

One Liberal source said Mr Seselja's candidacy addresses the conservative and regional vacancy in the NSW Liberals since the death of Senator Jim Molan, whose office was based in Queanbeyan. It was also noted that "half of Canberra work in Queanbeyan anyway."

There was consensus among the ACT Liberals that Mr Seselja would have to be pretty sure he had the numbers to run in another jurisdiction.

"He's got a very legitimate case. I know we're in territory, but we're in the middle of NSW. We're very much sort of part of that whole region," the source said.

"It may well mean that he's putting a line under the ACT. I don't know."

The Payne Senate replacement will be selected in Sydney at the end of November.