Updated September 13, 2019 16:51:18

Gladys Liu is a supreme networker. She's positively brilliant at it.

Just ask the treasurer of the Box Hill Chess Club.

"Gladys is more than a change agent," Trevor Stanning wrote in a reference for Ms Liu's Liberal Party nomination in September last year.

"She brought strategic structure to the aims of the club. The club now dominates the Australian chess scene, winning more Australian championships than any other club."

Domination. Change. A more glowing reference you will not read. Ms Liu was a transformative figure who took a suburban chess club to greatness.

Now it is Ms Liu who has been put in check.

Ms Liu's former colleagues in Victorian Liberal politics do indeed remember her as something of a change agent.

When she worked for then premier Ted Baillieu, she had a business card. One side was in English, the other in Mandarin. Her title was the same.

It said "Chinese Chief of Staff". The title might have chafed with the real chief of staff but what it meant was delivered in dollars. And a lot of them.

Ms Liu has long been a prodigious Victorian Liberal fundraiser in Chinese circles.

She's been quite the genius in this enterprise, a veritable Miss Moneybags to the Liberal Party purse.

So much so, that when Denis Napthine replaced Mr Baillieu as Liberal Premier in 2013, and then decided to take a mission to China the year after, it was suggested strongly that he take Ms Liu with him.

Why? Because if he didn't, her status in the Chinese community would be diminished and so would her worth to the Liberal coffers.

Mr Napthine did take Ms Liu to China on that trip. But Liberals say she took a less prominent role than she took on trips to China with Mr Baillieu.

But Ms Liu has been a significant force inside the Victorian Liberal Party for 15 years, whether the old-timers knew it or not.

Indeed, she advertised her importance to the Liberals in her application to become candidate for the electorate of Chisholm at the 2019 federal election.

"I have raised over $1 million for the party by organising events both large and small, centrally for the party as well as locally for MPs and candidates," Ms Liu wrote in her Liberal application for endorsement.

She was the One Million Dollar Woman, and reminding the party of it, after two failed bids to become a state parliamentarian.

"They [Labor] have preselected a Chinese-Australian candidate, Jennifer Yang, who has significant political experience and polled strongly to finish second out of 18 candidates in Melbourne Lord Mayor by-election," Ms Liu told preselectors.

"Backed by Labor funds and pork-barrelling, and taking advantage of the fact that many Chinese-Australians are quite unfamiliar with Australian politics, she represents a serious threat.

"If our Labor opponent is able to take Chisholm and build up a base of support among its Chinese community, I believe it would not only make Chisholm more difficult to win back in the future, but would also affect our prospect in neighbouring seats."

Ms Liu weaponised the fact she was Chinese and the changing nature of the Chisholm electorate. She knew the susceptibilities of the Liberal Party and expertly seized the opportunity.

"Nearly 30 per cent of families in Chisholm speak Mandarin or Cantonese at home. Since I can speak fluent English, Mandarin or Cantonese, I will make the most of my language to be an effective voice for the Liberal Party in the Chinese community in Chisholm," she told preselectors.

What Ms Liu offered was gold dust. If extracted, it was invaluable, especially against a formidable Labor candidate like Jennifer Yang.

Did Ms Liu expect to win? Of course, she did. Gladys always believes in Gladys. It's her gift. It drives her.

But did the Liberals believe Ms Liu might win Chisholm should she contest the 2019 federal election?

Now that's a trickier question.

Opportunity always lies in misfortune. And the Liberals believed fortune lay with Labor last year, after the leadership catastrophe. Preselecting Ms Liu had a big upside. She'd bring in buckets of cash.

But did the Liberals think she'd win Chisholm?

No. The damage done in the Liberals' take-down of Malcolm Turnbull was considerable in Chisholm where Mr Turnbull was popular. The defection of Julia Banks, the Liberal incumbent, had made Chisholm an assumed Labor gain in the federal election.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten was going to be the next prime minister, so in defeat why not go down with your pockets full of money, care of Ms Liu's exceptional contacts?

It seemed a no-brainer to some.

But other Liberals believed Ms Liu's company would eventually catch up with her.

When ASIO advised Mr Turnbull not to attend a "meet and greet" function in Box Hill in February 2018, it was because of the folk Ms Liu had invited.

At the time, Ms Liu wasn't even the Liberal candidate, just an enthusiastic party member acting in aid of the sitting member.

Exactly who on the A4 list of 30 names had sparked concern with security agencies is not known.

But the list, supplied by Julia Banks at the request of the Prime Minister's Office, had Ms Liu's name on it.

So is Gladys Liu a spy?

Hell no, say Liberals.

"She's the get-ahead girl. She's intelligent, she networks furiously, she's ambitious. It's all about Gladys," says one.

Another says: "Gladys is no Chinese agent. Does she have the wrong friends? No doubt."

Topics:liberals,government-and-politics,scott-morrison,australia,melbourne-3000

First posted September 13, 2019 14:15:38

Read more:

Gladys Liu's fundraising earned her a place in the Liberal elites, but what do they think of her? - ABC News