Paul Starick: Nicolle Flint re-enters politics … is she the next South Australian Liberal leader?

Nicolle Flint was subjected to abhorrent sexism as a federal MP. Now she’s re-entering Liberal politics, writes Paul Starick. Could she lead the state party?

It might be a bit too early to speculate about the next state Liberal leader, given David Speirs is little more than 16 months into the job.

Mr Speirs might be considered a rank outsider to lead his party to victory at the 2026 state election but he has an indefatigable and fiercely competitive character. And, as Premier Peter Malinauskas and his one-time rival Steven Marshall know, events can rapidly transform political fortunes.

There is, however, the prospect that the next Liberal premier is not yet in the parliament.

The present favourite to succeed Mr Speirs is first-term MP Ashton Hurn – one of just two Liberal women in the lower house.

Ms Hurn, the Liberal health spokeswoman, is an experienced media performer – she was director of media and communications for the Marshall government. The Liberals’ success in turning the health issue back on the government has built her policy and political credentials. But she is from the Moderate Liberal faction.

Liberal health spokeswoman Ashton Hurn at a Parliament House press conference, watched by Opposition Leader David Speirs. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Emma Brasier

The rival conservative Right, spearheaded by federal Barker MP Tony Pasin, is gaining control of the state Liberal organisation and MPs’ ranks. Senator Alex Antic and Opposition Legislative Council Leader Nicola Centofanti are co-hosting a sold-out “Queen’s Shield Dinner” on Friday night for “fellow Liberal conservatives” to, according to the trybooking invitation, “celebrate our shared achievements and the movement which is reshaping and reinvigorating the South Australian Liberal Party”.

The Right’s aim will be to install like-minded MPs in the lower house – as they have with some success in the upper house with, for example, Ms Centofanti and Mount Gambier-based Ben Hood.

This creates an intriguing prospect as a future state Liberal leader. Conservative former federal Boothby MP Nicolle Flint will be elected on Friday as the rural and regional council chair ahead of the party’s state annual general meeting on Saturday, which will put her on the Liberal state executive. Ms Flint, who quit politics at the 2022 election after speaking out about foul, sexist abuse repeatedly hurled at her, is the only nomination for the role – one she held from 2014-16 before entering federal parliament.

Before she was elected to Boothby in 2016, Ms Flint was a solicitor and policy adviser to state and federal Liberal leaders – Brendan Nelson, Malcolm Turnbull and Martin Hamilton-Smith. She also wrote intelligent and sophisticated columns for The Advertiser, focusing on regional and rural issues.

The-then newly elected South Australian federal MPs Nicolle Flint (Liberal, Boothby) and Rebekha Sharkie (then Nick Xenophon Team, Mayo) at Parliament House in Canberra in August, 2016. Picture Kym Smith

Tellingly, Ms Flint’s nomination is not from a branch in her former southern suburbs electorate of Boothby. Rather, it is from the branch in Kingston SE – where she was born and where her family has farmed for generations.

Kingston is in the state seat of MacKillop, held by independent Nick McBride, who quit the Liberals in July, blaming “dark forces”. In other words, conservatives gained control of his branches.

It’s an overcast but still & glorious morning in the South East of SA! pic.twitter.com/te3a4QRLFZ

— Nicolle Flint (@NicolleFlint) August 19, 2023

Ms Flint is aligned to the Pasin Right. There has been local speculation that she will stand for Liberal preselection in MacKillop. Interestingly, on August 20 she posted a social media selfie, declaring: “ It’s an overcast but still & glorious morning in the South East of SA!”

If Ms Flint does overcome the abhorrent sexism she faced in federal parliament to re-enter the political fray, MacKillop would be an ideal seat – she would give the popular Mr McBride a run for his significant money.

In her final address to federal parliament in February, 2022, Nicolle Flint declared she’s “not ready to make nice”, accusing Labor leader Anthony Albanese of not taking action against vile, sexist trolls. Picture: Gabriel Polychronis

The SA Liberals have traditionally sent their best talent to federal parliament – among them was Ms Flint.

She has a fierce intellect, which would add capacity to state parliament, particularly increasing Liberal lower house female representation.

Ms Flint is a polarising figure. Her detractors argue she is too conservative and scarred by her experience in federal politics.

But she has the policy experience and political acumen to position herself as a future state Liberal leader.

That’s a distant prospect but one that is not beyond the realms of possibility. As has repeatedly been shown, almost anything can happen in politics, particularly in the SA Liberal Party.

Originally published as Paul Starick: Nicolle Flint re-enters politics … is she the next South Australian Liberal leader?