Carney's bid for the pre-selection gained some media attention, as she was a reasonably high-profile candidate, but she was ultimately overlooked by the Alice Springs branch, who instead chose Peter Harvey. However, John Elferink, a sitting MP who had lost his preselection for MacDonnell, complained to the party's Central Council, making claims of branch-stacking. The fallout from the letter was immense—on 25 November 2000, in what was dubbed by the local media as "The Night of the Long Knives", all the preselections of the Alice Springs branch were overturned. The Central Council preselected Carney for Araluen, reinstated Elferink's preselection for MacDonnell, and pushed aside sitting minister Loraine Braham in Braitling in favour of Harvey. The controversial and largely unprecedented decision from head office earned Carney many enemies in the local branch of the party.