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The teenage 'revolution' in Fred Nile's party
In an industrial shed in Parramatta on the weekend, a teenager and his 22-year-old mate launched an unlikely coup to overthrow Fred Nile and the board of his Christian Democratic Party.
And they may well have pulled it off.
Fred Nile and his teenage tormentor, Joshua Grewal.Credit:Jon Reid, Facebook
Legal advice is being sought over whether motions at the party's rowdy state council meeting stand. If they do, the teen revolt will put Nile's stronghold on his party under serious threat.
Samraat Joshua Grewal, 18, and Joel Jammal's combined age is just 40, some 44 years younger than the grandfather of the NSW Parliament who they are trying to bring down.
It was an audacious move by the young pair because Nile has been leader of the CDP in the NSW's upper house since 1981, bar a short break in 2004 when he unsuccessfully contested a Senate seat.
Because of that break, Nile can't be called the father of the house – that title belongs to Labor's long-serving Peter Primrose – so he instead he is known as the grandfather of the place.
Nile's political opponents unkindly point out that this is fitting. Labor's Walt Secord has been reprimanded in the house for making fun of Nile's habit of napping. At 84, Nile might be excused for the odd kip.
On the other end of the age spectrum is the "pimply upstart teenager" Grewal, the leader of the CDP's youth wing, a movement for people aged 16 to 29.
He estimates there are about 100 members in his youth wing, which is where he met Jammal, a property economist. Together they have cooked up the plan to "restore order" to their party.
The pair and their supporters claim nepotism and mismanagement are rife in the party. The old guard naturally disputes this.
Grewal will pursue theological studies next year at Alphracrucis College in western Sydney. In the meantime he has quit his job at the party's head office to see out the year overhauling the CDP.
He is on the party's "directional committee", which he maintains was established at Saturday's meeting. But not all in the fractured party accept that the committee even exists.
The party's state president, Ross Clifford, says the board was "ambushed" by Grewal and dismisses him as merely an "18-year-old disgruntled former employee". Clifford, Nile and the other board members walked out of the meeting on Saturday.
Fred Nile is known as the grandfather of the house.Credit:Peter Rae
Grewal shot back at Clifford's claims: "In small words: the former chair has just stepped into a legal minefield that we’re about to detonate."
Despite his youth, the HSC graduate has been playing around in politics since high school and ran unsuccessfully as a CDP candidate for the seat of Mt Druitt in the March state election.
His main aim was not to win, but to "push an image of renewal" for the party. Given the party was reduced to just one upper house seat in March, clearly it could do with a shake-up.
Nile this week said he would remain in Parliament as long as his health and God permitted. His power has been significantly eroded in this term. He no longer holds the balance of power and, in a move that left him blind-sided, he was not elected assistant president.
One Nation's NSW leader, Mark Latham, as the unofficial leader of the right bloc of crossbenchers in the upper house, moved the motion supporting Nile for the job he has held since 2007.
It failed by one vote and now Nile is the leader of a party of just one after his parliamentary colleague Paul Green did not retain his upper house spot in the March election.
If Grewal's bold bid succeeds, and Nile is unseated from the board of his own party, how can his position as its figurehead remain tenable? Neither God nor good health may be able to save his political career.
Alexandra Smith is the State Political Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.