Abbott moves against the Liberals" faceless men The kind of NSW Liberal powerbrokers who recruit numbers rather than talent - remember Jaymes Diaz? - are getting some of the payback from Tony Abbott they deserve: CONTROVERSIAL powerbroker and lobbyist Michael Photios has resigned from the Liberal Party State Executive after Prime Minister Tony Abbott confirmed he was pursuing a policy of banning party officials from the national lobbyist register. The resignation follows revelations in The Daily Telegraph of Mr Photios's influence within the O'Farrell government, including regular meetings his firm was having with sacked former minister Greg Pearce. Photios himself did not back Diaz, and something must be done specifically about those who did - people like David Clarke, who seem to me to cause the Liberals far more harm than good: The Diaz family fiefdom of Greenway (Diaz's father is a Blacktown City councillor) is closely interlocked with NSW powerbroker and right-wing Catholic activist David Clarke, with a Filipino network providing the foot-soldiers. Splits among the Vietnamese in Fowler (15 per cent of the population is Vietnam-born), where right wing powerbrokers had done their best to block the aspirations of popular Vietnamese Australian Liberal activist Dai Le, produced the Andrew Nguyen candidacy. Nguyen, a long-time local council member and real estate agent, was trounced in Fowler, generating a 9 per cent swing to the ALP's Chris Hayes. But Abbott has moved a bit on that front, too: The only woman named a parliamentary secretary was the out-of-favour Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. The NSW right-wing senator was demoted after her role in sponsoring the failed Greenway candidate Jaymes Diaz, against Mr Abbott's express wishes.