Arabic version: ليبراليو جنوب أستراليا أمام تصويت حاسم بشأن أليكس أنتيك

According to ABC News, South Australian Liberal senator Alex Antic will contest the state party presidency against SA Upper House leader Nicola Centofanti at the party’s annual general meeting on Saturday. The presidency involves overseeing campaign preparations and internal meeting agendas, and carries a place on the Liberal Party’s federal executive alongside opposition leader Angus Taylor and federal president Tony Abbott.

The contest follows a Senate vote on Senator Antic’s bill to reverse the “No Jab, No Pay” policy introduced by the Turnbull government in 2015. The proposal would have allowed parents to retain family tax benefits if they objected to vaccinating a child on personal, philosophical, religious or medical grounds. Thirty-four senators voted against it, including Liberal frontbencher Anne Ruston. Senator Antic was the only Coalition member to support the bill.

Senator Ruston, the shadow health minister, defended the former Coalition policy and cited concern about a recent rise in whooping cough and measles cases in Australia. Labor senator Murray Watt said Labor would seek to link Senator Antic’s views to the Liberal Party more broadly, while Senator Antic’s possible elevation has also prompted discussion within the party of a federal takeover, ABC News reported.

Senator Antic has spent five years recruiting like-minded conservative members to local party branches, whose delegates will vote at the AGM. His supporters portray the ballot as a test of whether the SA Liberal Party remains conservative and argue he could help regain support from One Nation. In an August poll, the SA Liberals’ primary vote was 17 per cent, eight points behind One Nation’s 25 per cent. Senator Antic has said he wants members to have a genuine say in party policy, while Senator Blyth, the current president, is not seeking another term.