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Former leader Gary Humphries says Canberra Liberals are heading toward their fifth successive defeat unless the party reforms itself. Photo: Melissa Adams

The Canberra Liberals are undemocratic, out of touch with the ACT community and dominated by the ideological hard right, according to former leader Gary Humphries.

In his parting letter to friends and supporters in the local party, the former senator described a party with dead people on its membership lists, where meetings were regularly stacked and which could not manage its own finances.

But Canberra Liberals leader Jeremy Hanson, in response, labelled Mr Humphries bitter and angry, and said that it was the ex-senator's views that were "completely out of step and out of touch".

Mr Humphries, who has been appointed to a $460,000 job as deputy president of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, says the Canberra Liberals are heading toward their fifth successive defeat unless the party reforms itself.

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In a letter written to about 200 of the local party's moderate "Menzies Group" just before his new appointment, the former chief minister offered a gloomy assessment of the present state of the Canberra Liberals.

"I believe the need for reform is so significant it could prevent us winning the next ACT election if it goes unaddressed," he wrote.

Mr Humphries wrote that parties seeking government must "hold values and pursue policies which resonate with local people, which keep the party anchored in the community it serves.

"We have lost four ACT elections in a row because we have lost sight of this ideal.

See more here:
Former leader Gary Humphries gives Canberra Liberals an angry tune-up