Is there a new ‘girl power’ alliance in the SA Liberal party?
The SA Libs have a “bizarre way” of finding their new president, according to Mike Smithson, but maybe there is a new woman-driven mystery swirling around its high-drama selection process.
The SA Liberal Party has a bizarre way of selecting its new president and other office bearers, with nominations still a mystery four days after they supposedly closed.
As reported in InDaily yesterday, the important Liberal process has been extended by a month which may open a whole new can of worms over who’ll be running the executive arm.
So, sit tight until the Annual General Meeting is rescheduled on September 19, at a venue still to be finalised.
As I first revealed last Friday on ABC radio, another contender was emerging in a last-minute bid to rock the Senator Alex Antic boat, with him considered by many as a shoo-in for an uncontested presidency.
State Liberal Director Alex Hyde is neither confirming nor denying Antic’s, or any other nomination, to replace outgoing SA party chief Senator Leah Blyth.
From that, I think we can confidently deduce that another name came forward at one minute to midnight, so to speak.
My sources had indicated to me last week that a candidate considered suitable to the party moderates and “sensible” conservatives had been coaxed to the line in a bid to blow Antic and his hard-line conservative bid out of the water.
But it’s now getting messy with another month of treading water until the delayed AGM, with recent flooding damage to the first proposed meeting venue at the Piccadilly cinema in North Adelaide even listed as a reason for the delay.
Others say the real reason behind the postponement was that a potential constitutional challenge could have resulted had the process not been put back a month.
But I have another theory, given the confusing and changing circumstances.
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Could the delay be a smoke screen for trying to take the heat out of the ever evolving and volatile situation?
Did the moderate-led recruitment campaign catch the party executive by surprise, and is the four-week blowout more a case of buying time than securing a venue which isn’t water damaged?
Senator Blyth has been a staunch Antic supporter.
Most observers may think she would have led the charge for him to become her replacement.
But could there be a new girl power alliance between Blyth and another SA female powerhouse Senator Anne Ruston?
If that friendship has blossomed, it wedges Blyth as the meat into a very unsavoury political sandwich.
There’s little, to no, love lost between Antic and key moderate Ruston.
As I’ve commented on before, the Liberal knives were out during senate pre-selection for the 2025 federal election.
Ruston is a respected shadow cabinet minister with impeccable credentials, as she was during the 2024 pre-selection stoush.
Yet Antic was able to use his considerable influence to get himself voted to top spot on the Liberal ticket.
It was roundly condemned as a bad look by many within the moderate faction, but the Antic forces clearly didn’t give two hoots and the reason was clear.
Antic had been on a membership recruitment drive for more than a year.
He’d tapped into the so-called bible-belt across Adelaide with a philosophy of moving back to the party’s true conservative roots.
It was a put-down for Ruston and appeared to be the demotion of a hard-working and successful female – which it was.
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But as John Howard always said: count the numbers.
That’s what Antic did and promptly moved up the batting order.
So, if Blyth is now in the Ruston corner rather than her old friend Antic’s, there must be a reason as the Liberal Senate ticket prepares to be sorted for the 2028 federal election.
Blyth is up for re-election, and on current Liberal popularity standings, needs to be as high on the ticket as possible.
Some say she’s totally alienated her conservative supporters, so now needs to rely on the moderate faction vote.
Self-interest usually wins out in politics, so the Liberals might have been forced into a delay, dressed up as a waterlogged meeting venue, to find a way forward without losing face or members.
In any political party it’s often the “faceless” backroom people who do the deals and shape the future.
In a bid to find a compromise, even with Antic still likely to be the next president, there needs to be an army of bridge menders working behind the scenes over the next month.
Those who may have been caught off guard by the late alternative nomination for president, would still prefer to see Antic run unopposed.
That would circumvent any hand-to-hand combat played out publicly before the vote.
But for that to happen, the other mystery contender would need to quietly withdraw their nomination, as if it had never happened.
But perhaps even stranger things could happen with Antic pulling out of the race, that’s, of course, if he was ever in it.
In other words, the Liberals need to work out a way to get along, which has been their problem since the dawn of time.
Labor, the Greens and One Nation will be observing the next month with more than a passing interest and some amusement.
This ballot for presidency, and all that goes with it, again looms as one of the most important ballots in the party’s history.
Whoever stays the journey and then wields the power going forward will be seen as a peace maker or be unable to mend the sins of their fathers.
They will have been handed a magic wand or a poisoned chalice.
Mike Smithson is weekend newsreader and political analyst for 7News.
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