Court action could be on the cards after "disgusting" and "unconstitutional" tactics were used to derail the annual meeting of a shadowy organisation for young Liberals.

About 100 delegates met in Hobart last week for a conference of the Australian Liberal Students' Federation, a peak body for dozens of campus Liberal clubs from around the country.

But the love-in turned sour on the final day when some attendees attempted to enter the meeting, only to be told they had not registered in time and would be ineligible to vote for the new executive.

Security guards, whom organisers claimed belonged to the University of Tasmania but were in a different uniform, blocked delegates from entering the venue.

So toxic were the proceedings that Tasmanian Liberal Senator Eric Abetz refused to give the keynote speech at that evening's gala dinner, with a source describing him as "thoroughly unimpressed". Turnbull government ministers, senators and MPs hit the phones on Friday afternoon to find out what had happened.

Tim Andrews, a former ALSF president who attended the conference, described the events on his Facebook page. "Extraordinary scenes at ALSF Federal Council, where large swathes (sic) of eligible voting delegates are being unconstitutionally, physically prevented from entering the AGM by hired private security," he wrote. "Quite unbelievable."

Fairfax Media has since spoken with nearly a dozen sources who confirmed that account. They placed the incident in a context of fracturing relations between the moderates and the centre-right faction in NSW, where wannabe powerbrokers hone their scheming skills and federal MPs such as Alex Hawke maintain influence over the party's youth wing using lieutenants on their staff.

Among those bouncing delegates at the door were Jack Morgan, an adviser to Mr Hawke, and Michael Sabljak, staffer to former speaker Tony Smith. Also involved were Jean-Luc Corelli, a former staffer to conservative MP Michael Sukkar, and Ananija Ananievski, who was forced to quit Kevin Andrews' office earlier this year following allegations of branch-stacking.

Trouble arose when the incumbent all-male executive bloc, aware that its grip on control was under siege, quietly closed registration for the meeting a week in advance. On Friday, about 15 factional enemies who had not registered were turned away at the door, assisted by security guards. They were joined by another 60 youngsters who broke away from the meeting and held their own rival meeting, electing a rival executive led by Queenslander Jack McGuire.

That group is now considering its options, including legal action, a complaint to federal Liberal Party director Tony Nutt or creating their own breakaway organisation. Meanwhile, the old executive bloc and its supporters elected Mr Morgan as their president. He declined to answer questions.

John Slater, a Queensland Young Liberal/National and ally of Mr McGuire, said he was saddened on behalf of the first-timers he brought to the conference.

"Their general impression - and mine - was that these guys spend more time and energy fighting each other than fighting for the cause," he said. "Any lay observer would look at this and it would confirm all their worst suspicions about the Young Liberal movement . . . and all those stereotypes about Young Liberals being power-hungry, ruthless and immoral."

Other than acting as a repository for infighting, the ALSF's activities are fairly opaque. It has no formal relationship with the Liberal Party - rather, it is affiliated with dozens of university Liberal clubs from which it raises funds. In turn, members campaign on issues such as student unionism, fee deregulation and political correctness, and benefit from networking opportunities with MPs.

But recent examples of the outfit's work are few and far between. It previously published a magazine called Protégé and continues to host a Canberra party in the week of the federal budget.

"There's been a feeling that it really hasn't achieved much and has been failing," one former executive told Fairfax Media. "It's extremely disappointing to see an organisation that has so much potential go so far down the toilet. The Liberal movement is supposed to be about ideas of democracy. Rather than accept the will of the people, they've used tactics better suited to an African dictatorship than modern Australia."

Senator Abetz attended the conference earlier in the week and was invited to give keynote address on the final night. He declined, having already been made aware of the factional antics organisers were plotting. In his place they arranged Catholic Archbishop of Hobart Julian Porteous, who was last year subject to an anti-discrimination complaint over a booklet opposing same-sex marriage that was distributed at schools (the complaint was later withdrawn).

Also attending the gala dinner as special guests were David van Gend, head of the controversial Australian Marriage Forum, and Peter Westmore, president of Catholic lobby group the National Civic Council, founded by B.A. Santamaria.

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