The Clan is a group within the Western Australian division of the Liberal Party. The Clan used WhatsApp between 2016 and 2021 to discuss branch stacking, among other things. The group was revealed in 2021. Prominent members included former senator for Western Australia Mathias Cormann and Legislative Councillors Peter Collier and Nick Goiran.

Members
Members of the Clan include:
Senator Mathias Cormann
Legislative Council member Peter Collier
Legislative Council member Nick Goiran
House of Representatives member Ian Goodenough
Senator Slade Brockman
Legislative Assembly member Tony Krsticevic
Liberal Party State President Fay Duda
Liberal Party State Treasurer Aiden Depiazzi

WhatsApp messages leak
The Clan was revealed in the leak of 700 pages of the group's WhatsApp messages in August 2021. This revealed that the Clan was discussing branch stacking, whereby they would get their supporters to prominent party positions and get preselected to contest elections.

Influence
Liberal Party State President Fay Duda gained her position with the support of the Clan. Brockman gained his position as senator due to the support of the Clan.

During preselection for the 2018 Cottesloe state by-election, the Clan backed BHP lawyer Emma Roberts over David Honey, who eventually won preselection.

The 2020 Western Australian Liberal Party leadership election was influenced by the Clan, who backed Zak Kirkup over Dean Nalder. In a statement made by Nalder upon his retirement announcement a week later, he criticised the factional forces within the Liberal Party, who backed Kirkup over himself. He said that he could never become leader in the future as he did not have the backing of Collier and Goiran. Days later, he quit his shadow cabinet roles, including shadow treasurer.

Fallout
Duda initially maintained that she would renominate for her fourth year as president, due to begin in October 2021 but announced on 27 August that she would not renominate.

Several Liberal Party branches in the southern suburbs of Perth requested that the party send Goiran to the party's appeals and disciplinary committee, which has the power to censure, suspend or expel any member of the party. The Liberal Reform Coalition, a group formed to improve the public image of the party, called for Goiran and Collier's resignation from the party at the group's inaugural meeting in December 2021. In January 2022, an investigation into Goiran was launched by the party's appeals and disciplinary committee.

In an addendum to a Liberal Party report which reviewed the party's 2021 election loss, the members of The Clan were described as exhibiting "odious behaviour". Goiran threatened legal action against the Liberal Party's state director and the authors of the report, with his lawyer saying that allegations in the report were "totally false, without basis and constitute serious defamation of him". Goiran and the Liberal Party reached a non-financial settlement in February 2022, with the party agreeing to withdraw the report.

Following Libby Mettam's election as Liberal Party leader in a leadership spill in January 2023, Collier issued an apology for the "inappropriate" language he used on the WhatsApp group. Mettam soon removed Goiran from the shadow cabinet, making him the only member of the opposition not in the shadow cabinet. According to WAtoday, Goiran would have likely not been removed from shadow cabinet if he had apologised like Collier did. Mettam also tried to removed Goiran as the Liberal Party parliamentary secretary but a majority of Liberal MPs voted against that motion. Three days later, Goiran resigned as the parliamentary secretary.

See also
 National Right (Liberal Party of Australia)

References

Political scandals in Australia
2020s in Western Australia
Liberal Party of Australia factions