CHIKAROVSKI TOLD SHE SHOULD QUIT

KERRY Chikarovski should quit immediately as Opposition Leader for the good
of the Liberal Party, a former party vice-president says.

In a scathing attack, Mr Edward Hogg, who served as finance committee
vice-president in the early 1990s, said Mrs Chikarovski "does not even make
superficial sense".

Mr Hogg used a letter to The Daily Telegraph to outline a raft of concerns
about Mrs Chikarovski's leadership, some of which are shared by her own MPs.

"She must let go for the good of democracy and the State of NSW," he writes.

"She should take her children out on the weekend for a yum cha and say there
is a time in life to go on, and there is a time in life for the benefit of
the people in NSW to stop."

Mr Hogg, 68, a financial consultant, also attacked Mrs Chikarovski over her
smear campaign against Lord Mayor Frank Sartor and said deputy leader Barry
O'Farrell should take over as leader.

He said he had been unable to find anyone in Sydney who believed she was
equipped to be leader.

"Taxi drivers, the barmen, the boardrooms of Sydney, the public in general
who wish to have a choice in their voting activities have indicated the
Liberals need a new leader," he said.

Mrs Chikarovkski's office last night dismissed the criticisms.

"Mr Hogg does not speak on behalf of the Liberal Party," a spokesman said.

But an unrepentant Mr Hogg last night stood by the letter.

"A lot of people are thinking it and it was time for someone to come out and
say it," he told The Daily Telegraph.

The letter came as some Liberal MPs prepared to defy Mrs Chikarovski by
supporting contentious plans for a heroin injection room.

At least three and as many as six MPs privately back the Government's drug
legislation, which features the trial of an injection room in Kings Cross.

The MPs fear that Mrs Chikarovski will reject their request for a conscience
vote when the legislation goes before Parliament.

The MPs who have previously indicated support for injection rooms are
frontbenchers Patricia Forsythe, Brad Hazzard and John Brogden, and
backbenchers Don Harwin, Kevin Rozzoli and John Ryan.