Tony Abbott will get a clear run to recontest his seat at the next election but former Speaker Bronwyn Bishop faces a preselection battle with Liberal colleagues.
As the Liberal party closes nominations for NSW federal seats on Friday, AAP understands the former prime minister has renominated uncontested for his Sydney seat of Warringah.
Mrs Bishop, who stood down as Speaker after the helicopter charter scandal, has also renominated for her neighbouring seat of Mackellar.
Her main opponents will be conservative-backed business consultant Walter Villatora and Liberal staffer Jason Falinski, who has the support of the party's dominant moderate or Left faction.
Former state MP Jim Longley had considered entering the race but did not nominate.
One Liberal source said winning preselection was a 50-50 prospect for Mrs Bishop.
Another source said Mrs Bishop had strong local support and if she was one of a handful of candidates left in the race she'd have the backing of whichever faction was no longer in the running.
Mr Abbott would not be challenged for preselection in Warringah, despite some local party members having considered a possible tilt, a source said.
Mrs Bishop will have to face around 120 Liberal preselectors - most of them from local branches - in a ballot in coming weeks.
Former Wallaby Bill Calcraft has also expressed his interest in running and has the endorsement of conservative broadcaster and his 1984 Wallabies coach Alan Jones, who has been a staunch supporter of Mrs Bishop in the past.
Mr Villatora has endorsement letters from Mr Abbott and NSW Premier Mike Baird.
Mackellar is considered a safe Liberal seat with a margin of almost 19 per cent.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has stepped in to protect Hughes MP Craig Kelly from a preselection challenge.
He has also headed off a battle between Macarthur MP Russell Matheson and Angus Taylor, the Liberal MP for Hume.
Mr Matheson considered running in Hume because his seat has been made more marginal in the federal redistribution.
But they will both run in their existing seats.
Former frontbencher Bob Baldwin confirmed he would not be retiring and would recontest his seat of Paterson, which is nominally a Labor seat after the redistribution.
Share
