The Liberals said John was dead, but he's considering a new political life

John Ternel has quit the Liberal Party and is considering joining One Nation. (ABC News: Danielle Bonica) The Liberal Party sent an email to suburban branches in Melbourne falsely claiming one of its members had died after he resigned. John Ternel resigned after twice applying to be a Liberal candidate and is now considering defecting to One Nation. One Nation plans to run candidates in every seat at the Victorian election in November, in the next major test of conservative politics. Link copiedShareShare articleWhen John Ternel resigned from the Liberal Party this week in the wake of the party's wipe-out in the Farrer by-election, he started receiving strange phone calls. "Everyone's been ringing me saying, 'Are you alive?'" Mr Ternel initially thought these were political jokes, but soon discovered the Victorian Liberal Party had sent a mass email with the subject line: "Deceased Member." "We have been informed that Mr John Ternel has sadly passed away and is no longer a member of the Narre Warren / Endeavour Hills Branch, Narre Warren North SEC, Bruce FEC," the email said. "Our deepest condolences go out to John's family." One recipient responded to the email that evening, referencing Mark Twain's famous quip. "To misquote Twain, the report of John's death is an exaggeration," the member wrote, according to an email obtained by the ABC. "I suggest that this is more than a simple mistake; it just shows the depth of the rot that has set in the administration of our once-fine Party. I strongly suggest that the Party administration apologise to John forthwith." The email sent to Liberal members on Tuesday night. (Supplied) Two hours after the email was sent to branches across Melbourne's south-eastern suburbs, the Liberal Party issued a "Correction Notice" and apologised to Mr Ternel for the "system error". Mr Ternel said the ordeal confirmed what he had increasingly felt over the past year — that the Victorian Liberals are in shambles — and he is now considering defecting to One Nation. "When I first started, it was about Menzies and Menzies values," Mr Ternel said. "They've lost their direction and focus. There's a lot of confusion. Who are we? Who do we stand for?" Mr Ternel joined the Liberal Party in 2024 and put his hand up to be its candidate for the federal seat of Bruce at last year's election, but was not preselected. Dismayed by the electoral wipe-out that ensued, which saw a record swing to Labor, he stayed in the party and put his hand up again to run as a candidate for the state seat of Narre Warren North. "It's been five months, and I haven't heard anything," he said. "There's a level of frustration because there are really good candidates who are getting overlooked. Many of these people have good community ties, and that's been ignored." One Nation has been pursuing candidates to run in every seat at the November Victorian election in what will be the next major test for conservative politics in Australia. When Mr Ternel posted on his personal Facebook page that he had resigned from the party, former Liberal candidate for Mulgrave Michael Piastrino, who is now a One Nation member, posted, "Your orange tshirt is waiting for you." One Nation leader Pauline Hanson with Michael Piastrino, a former Liberal candidate who is now a One Nation member. (Supplied) Mr Piastrino said he is getting "daily" calls from members saying, "We're going to leave the Liberal Party." In the past 24 hours, Mr Ternel says he has received more than 20 phone calls from Liberal members asking about One Nation. "I'm actually blown away by how many people have said, 'Good on you, John. We're considering going to One Nation too.' Some are saying, 'Can you put a good word in for me?' They want to be candidates?" he said. Victorian Liberal Party vice-president Geoff Gledhill left a voicemail with Mr Ternel: "I'm very pleased to hear you're alive and well, and disappointed to hear you're leaving the party, but that's another issue." A Liberal Party spokesperson did not answer questions about member resignations but said the party was investigating with its software provider how the email was sent. "When a member resigns, a notification is sent to the relevant branches. In this instance, the wrong notification was sent," the spokesperson said. Six members quit the Narre Warren branch at the same time as Mr Ternel. The party is bleeding members in other suburban branches, too. Brimbank Council Deputy Mayor Maria Kerr, who is speaking as a private citizen and not on behalf of the council, resigned from the Liberal Party last week, and said 90 out of 100 members at the party's St Albans branch would allow memberships to lapse over the party's "neglect of the west". "I was holding on. But with the direction of the party, the administration of the party, more so, some decisions made on candidates, have disenchanted a lot of members, including myself," she said. Cr Kerr said the members who resigned in

The Liberals said John was dead, but he's considering a new political life

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