Resurgent Liberal Nicolle Flint poised to make surprise comeback in former seat of Boothby

The former Liberal MP’s rumoured return to politics has taken a new twist after Alex Antic wrested a coveted spot from the party’s most senior SA woman.

Resurgent former federal Liberal Nicolle Flint appears poised to make a surprise comeback in her former seat, the key marginal of Boothby.

Liberals are abuzz with speculation about Ms Flint’s return after her conservative ally Alex Antic deployed numbers to seize top spot on the 2025 SA Liberal Senate ticket over the weekend.

Ms Flint declined to comment on Monday but social media shows she has been heavily involved in the campaign for Dunstan and spent time volunteering in several other key seats, including Mawson.

She has recently spoken at an Elder SEC Liberal policy event and will this Friday deliver the 2024 Archbishop John Hepworth Memorial Oration. Archbishop Hepworth was a friend of Ms Flint and the president of Boothby FEC before his death in 2021.

The Advertiser earlier this month revealed Ms Flint had effectively ruled out a tilt at MacKillop, a South East seat in which her family has farmed for generations.

Liberal sources said she had been declaring “my heart is in Boothby”, opening the prospect of her standing again in the southwestern Adelaide marginal federal seat.

Nominations for the seat of Boothby are expected to open imminently.

Right wing Liberal Senator Alex Antic. Picture: Brett Hartwig

Ex-Boothby MP Nicolle Flint on her parent’s property near Kingston in the state’s south east. Picture: Naomi Jellicoe

Ms Flint, who represented Boothby between 2016-2022, spoke up during her time in parliament about the sexist abuse she experienced.

She resigned ahead of the 2022 election, when Labor’s Louise Miller-Frost won the seat with a margin of 3.3 per cent.

On Saturday, former federal cabinet minister Anne Ruston was deposed from top spot on the Liberal Senate ticket by firebrand conservative Mr Antic, in a move opponents branded an insult to women.

An internal firestorm erupted after the ballot, which left two men and one woman in winnable positions on the party’s ticket.

Rival conservatives and moderate factions sniped over the party’s “woman problem” worsening from the results.

“Today we’ve just left a whole lot of body parts on the floor, for nothing,” one Liberal said.