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Most Australians had probably never heard of Alex Hawke until last month, when he spectacularly deported the unvaccinated world No. 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic on the eve of the Australian Open. Even amid that feverish affair he remained mysterious: as Immigration Minister, he signed the documents, but it was Morrison and Home Affairs Minister Karen Andrews who fronted the cameras and the world.

Hawke is part of Morrison’s inner circle, and in Canberra at least, that’s the source of his power. He was a crucial numbers man in that mad week of August 2018 that saw Morrison beat Peter Dutton to replace Malcolm Turnbull. He is also Morrison’s representative on the executive committee of the NSW Liberal Party, and as such is a key player in the ongoing civil war over preselections - or lack thereof - in important NSW seats ahead of the federal election. The feud escalated this week with Morrison taking the first step toward federal intervention in his home state.

A political head kicker from way back, Hawke heads the centre right or “soft right” faction in NSW, a sort of Frankenstein grouping that sits between the moderates (or the “left”) and the hard right. In the same vein as federal Liberal factions, the centre right is arguably more centred around personal loyalties than ideology or policy. Some have called it “the ambition faction”.

It wasn’t always thus; Hawke made his start as staffer and protege to hard-right heavyweight David Clarke, who served in the NSW upper house for just shy of 16 years. Together they had built up the right faction, and the falling out between the two men as Hawke formed his own group is regarded as one of the great betrayals in NSW Liberal Party history.

Today, the mere mention of Hawke’s name prompts outpourings of bile from many fellow Liberals, though many critics are not prepared to put their names to their comments, knowing from experience that Hawke always wins. As one says: “He could follow you into a revolving door and come out first.”

READ MORE:

https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/alex-hawke-the-political-animal-who-became-morrison-s-machine-man-20220205-p59u1r.html

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