Rogue Liberal senator Alex Antic says he will give “back some voice” to party members now that he has been elected as state president in South Australia.
Many of those members are part of “Alex’s Army”, the evangelical and Pentecostal Christians the federal MP recruited into the operational wing of the party.
That has given the rightwinger a huge amount of influence in a state that for years was the scene of turf wars between the conservatives and the moderates.
Over the weekend, Antic beat upper house leader Nicola Centofanti 119 to 73 votes to take the presidency.
The prospect of Antic as president led some to speculate that the federal party might forcibly take over the state branch because of concerns over the senator’s close relationship with One Nation and whether Antic was likely to improve the beleaguered party’s vote.
Pollster Tony Barry, the RedBridge director of corporate affairs and communications, has branded Antic a “vote-losing machine” for the party.
Since his ascendancy, the Liberal party has been smashed at a federal and a state election.
After SA’s March election, the Liberal party was left with just five lower house seats. Moderates are concerned that opposition leader Ashton Hurn’s attempts to turn around the party’s fortunes will be made more difficult if she is constantly asked about Antic’s musings on topics including vaccinations, trans issues and climate change.
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On Monday, Antic posted to X that his win was a “great result”.
“It’s proof positive that getting involved in politics can achieve outcomes, grassroots political action as it’s known, people joining up, turning up to vote,” he said.
“And … we’re going to give the members of this party back some voice into the machine”.
It’s not clear how he would deliver on that promise.
The organisational wing of the party “cannot dictate policy”, the party says, “but consults with and advises the parliamentary wing, particularly on the development of longer-term policies”.
However, Antic could use his power to force constitutional change, to pre-select candidates that are ideologically aligned, or to pressure sitting MPs to adopt more rightwing policies.
Trish Worth, a state council delegate and Howard government parliamentary secretary, told the ABC the party “should always be selecting the people with the most experience and loyalty”, and criticised his recent moves to change the No Jab, No Play legislation.
He was the only Coalition senator to vote for that change, but was joined by the four One Nation senators and United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet.
On Monday, state health minister Blair Boyer called on Antic to declare whether he would seek to form a coalition with One Nation.
“The transformation is complete,” Boyer said.
“The South Australian Liberals are now the Temu version of One Nation – just as extreme, just as dangerous, just less genuine.”
One Nation’s SA leader, Cory Bernardi – who was snapped enjoying a beer with Antic earlier this year – welcomed Antic’s win, and said he looked forward to their ongoing “constructive relationship”.
Liberal senator Anne Ruston wished Antic the best, now he had two “enormous” jobs as president and senator.
Antic’s close conservative colleague Tony Pasin told the ABC on Monday the Liberal party and One Nation should “work together to defeat the Australian Labor party”.
Pasin said the advantage of the presidency was “there might be an opportunity for people to look a little closer at what Alex says from time to time”, for example on vaccination.
In June, Antic claimed in the senate that pharmaceutical companies were using the bird flu to push people to get the flu jab.
“These birds are almost like the bell ringing on the pharmaceutical company’s guilt trip, saying: ‘We’re entering the winter season. We’re about to lean on you to get your flu shot, and now we’ve found two birds with the sniffles’”, he said.
Pasin said he agreed with Antic, but that he was merely saying that the flu jab did not protect against bird flu.
Asked whether people in the Liberal party might be “concerned about repercussions” from Antic’s election, Pasin said the party “should be focused on winning elections”.
Antic did not respond to questions by deadline, and said on X that he had “no intention” of dealing much with the media.
