Federal MP Ann Sudmalis has been accused of misleading parliament when she claimed to have been bullied and betrayed by people within the Liberal Party.
Ms Sudmalis used parliamentary privilege on Monday to name NSW Liberal state MP Gareth Ward for his "narcissistic revenge" against her.
"Bullying, betrayal and backstabbing have been the hallmarks of one of my state Liberal colleagues, Gareth Ward, over the past six and a half years," Ms Sudmalis told parliament.
She said she'd endured the "trifecta" of Mr Ward's manipulation of people and numbers; sour grapes from defeated preselection candidate Andrew Guile; and biased reporting by the local newspaper editor.
Mr Guile on Tuesday described her speech as an appalling abuse of parliamentary privilege.
"She really has disgraced the parliament in what she's done," Mr Guile told AAP.
Mr Guile, who ran second to Ms Sudmalis in the Liberal preselection for Gilmore in 2012, said she had no evidence for her claims.
"It's basically just name-calling to slander a few people, myself included, just because we've had political contests in the past," he said.
"There's no issue in our area about the men versus women thing - as much as Ann likes to play that up."
Mr Ward said Ms Sudmalis needed to be careful not to confuse political disagreements with bullying.
"People shouldn't conflate losing a party ballot or disagreements as bullying - there is a very, very big difference," Mr Ward told AAP on Tuesday.
"If there is any evidence of bullying that should be brought forward but, to date, I haven't seen that."
Ms Sudmalis holds Gilmore on a margin of just 0.7 per cent and has faced a preselection challenge from local real estate agent Grant Schultz.
The final straw in her deciding not to recontest the seat was Mr Ward's branch-stacking and rolling her federal electoral conference, she claimed.
"This is not the first time that Gareth has flexed his vengeance on strong Liberal women. He doesn't just get even, he annihilates anyone who opposes him."
Ms Sudmalis' announcement comes as the Liberal Party faces a backlash over its lack of commitment to preselecting women.
Australian Associated Press
