Mr Cameron, who was the Liberal MP for Parramatta until 2004, was suspended by the party's state executive for four-and-a-half years on Friday night.

Mr Cameron, who now works as a host on Sky cable TV, showed up to the meeting in shorts and a polo shirt after telling attendees he was locked out of the change rooms of his golf club and could not change into a suit.

Mr Cameron's defence before the party's 23 most senior decision makers lasted for nearly an hour and referenced ancient Greece.

Mr Cameron did not apologise for his remarks and told those assembled he wanted to be known as a dissenter within the Liberals and that party rules against criticism were incompatible with his role as a public political commentator.

Only one representative voted against his suspension for close to the maximum, five-year period. A handful abstained, including Ms Berejiklian's representative on the state executive and the Prime Minister's representative.

Mr Cameron was recently at the centre of controversy earlier this month for other, disparaging remarks at a function for the right-wing Q Society including describing the NSW Liberals as "basically a gay club" and referring to this news outlet as the "Sydney Morning Homosexual".

But Mr Cameron came before the party's top brass on Friday for remarks he made about Ms Berejiklian on the air last year, shortly before she took up the state's top job.

Mr Cameron accused Ms Berejiklian of seeking to "destroy" a movement for democratic reform within the Liberal party, a cause championed by many of his colleagues in the party's right wing.

"That's either because that's her genuine personal view that she wants to retain an authoritarian party or because she thinks that she will be able to replace Mike Baird with the benefit of factional numbers in a secret backroom deal," Mr Cameron said.

Mr Cameron also singled out a number of other top Liberals as opposing reform, including Defence Minister Marise Payne.

The Liberal party's rules forbid members from discussing "party matters" in the media.

Mr Cameron has previously fallen foul of that provision and been suspended for six months. His supporters argue the rule is incompatible with his role as a media personality.

The push for democratic reform would see a complex system for choosing party nominees that includes voters chosen by the party's state executive with open ballots or "plebiscites".

Critics argue the existing model gives too much say to the party's factions and its central organisation and leads to candidate selection by deals between powerbrokers or "stacking" party branches to swing votes.

Mr Cameron promised to respond to his suspension on his Sunday morning talk show Outsiders, with Rowan Dean and former Labor leader Mark Latham.