Arabic version: «أمة واحدة» ترحّب برئاسة أنتيك للحزب الليبرالي
According to ABC News, One Nation has described Senator Alex Antic’s election as president of the South Australian Liberal Party as a “win” for the state. Antic won the position at the party’s annual general meeting on Saturday, defeating SA upper house MP Nicola Centofanti.
One Nation’s SA leader, Cory Bernardi, said he looked forward to “continuing a constructive relationship with the Senator”. He said voters who had previously backed the Liberals supported One Nation at the March election because the Liberals no longer represented conservative values important to them. Bernardi said Antic’s victory offered an opportunity to turn the South Australian Liberals “back to the right path”.
Antic’s nomination had been opposed by moderates and some conservatives within the party. Concerns included his record of voting against his own party and his close relationship with One Nation. While many senior Liberals publicly backed his election after the meeting, former Howard government parliamentary secretary Trish Worth said he did not have her support.
Worth said the party should select people with experience and loyalty, and raised concerns about Antic’s policy positions, including his recent push to reopen a loophole in the “No Jab, No Pay” policy introduced by the Turnbull government in 2015. Shadow health minister Anne Ruston said it could not “necessarily” be said that Antic was taking the party in a concerning direction, but said he faced two “enormous” full-time roles as state president and a senator representing South Australians in Canberra.
Antic left Saturday’s meeting without speaking to media. He has previously denied wanting a merger between the SA Liberal Party and One Nation. Former federal Liberal leader Alexander Downer said the state president’s role was administrative, with responsibility for party organisation and fundraising rather than policy. Antic had told delegates he wanted to ensure members had a genuine say in the party’s policy direction.
