The member for Hughes, Craig Kelly, is a spear-carrier for the party’s right wing. He faces a contest from Kent Johns, a moderate and former state president of the NSW Liberal Party.

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The numbers are said to be tight. Within the Hughes electorate, the executive of the party’s branches – such as Moorebank – will each represent about 10-15 per cent of the votes on the pre-selection panel.

Which makes next week’s proposed AGM of the Moorebank branch of small, but potentially telling, importance to the question of who will represent the Liberals in Hughes.

The AGM had been called for 2.30pm next Tuesday, also at Mr Ristevski’s parents’ home in Derby Crescent, Chipping Norton. Those supporting Mr Johns say the meeting's timing and location seemed designed to deter moderates from attending.

Mr Ristevski – although suspended – is associated with the party’s conservative wing. He has had a long-running feud with another former Liberal councillor, Ned Mannoun. The Moorebank branch, meanwhile, has been persistently unsettled, with Ms Gibbons at one stage applying for a restraining order after receiving a death threat.

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Thursday’s meeting represented a minor victory for Mr Johns, who was not at the meeting but whose partner – Ms Gibbons – was. A motion was successfully moved to not hold the AGM earlier than 6.30pm, and to hold that meeting at a neutral venue.

Score a small one for the moderates, in what is likely to be a series of tightly-contested pre-selection battles ahead of looming state and federal elections.

Ms Gibbons, meanwhile, made it back to Parliament by Question Time. She had been granted leave from Parliament from 10am to 2.15pm by the government Whip, Chris Patterson.