NSW Liberals state council rejects Tony Abbott's motion to reform party preselection

 Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott's motion for reform to the NSW Liberal Party has been voted down at the state council currently underway in Sydney 246 votes to 174, Senator Arthur Sinodinos said.

The former prime minister and current prime minister Malcolm Turnbull had put forward slightly different motions at the meeting today to give party members greater rights in preselections.

Mr Abbott's 'one member, one vote' motion focused on giving each member a vote in choosing candidates.

Senior Liberal senator Arthur Sinodinos told AAP that Mr Abbott's motion to allow plebiscites for candidate preselections was voted down by 246 votes to 174.

Instead, a majority of members supported Malcolm Turnbull and Mike Baird's motion for Abbott's desired reform and others to be discussed at a Liberal Party convention next year.

In a speech today, Mr Turnbull extolled the virtues of the Liberal Party but said: "Today our great party has set a course to be greater still".

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Speaking to reporters after Mr Baird's speech, Mr Abbott dealt with questions about the failure of his motion by saying Mr Turnbull actually supported the concept.

"The prime minister does support the principle of plebiscite preselections," Mr Abbott said.

"Premier Mike Baird said today that he supported the principle of plebiscite preselections - that's what he would be working towards at the Liberal Party People's Convention next year."

Mr Abbott said the reform to candidate preselection was "unstoppable" and when achieved, would result in "far more members and no factions".

He said he agreed with several Liberal MP colleagues who gave speeches at today's meeting, saying that without reform, the party was in "long-term secular decline".

Mr Abbott said it had taken a long time to get the idea of plebiscites for candidate preselection on the agenda of the NSW Liberal "powers that be" because they were happy with the status quo.

But he said after today, change is imminent.

"Reform is unstoppable and I am very, very confident that early next year we will revitalise our party, we will empower the membership, and that will give us a very strong foundation on which to advance to the next federal election."