SA Liberal Party faces damaging new gender row over bid to replace Anne Ruston with Alex Antic on top senate spot

The South Australian Liberal Party is careering towards yet another damaging gender row over attempts to hijack top billing for party’s most senior female MP.

The South Australian Liberal Party is careering towards yet another damaging gender row over attempts to knock the party’s most senior female MP from parliament.

SA Senator Anne Ruston is at risk of becoming the target of rising party conservatives, who are going “hell for leather” to install firebrand Alex Antic in first position on the state Liberals’ senate ticket for the 2025 federal election.

Senior Liberals have raised the possibility of Opposition Leader Peter Dutton intervening to prevent the embarrassment of a backbench senator knocking off a female shadow cabinet minister from the party’s top spot amid a nationwide push to elect more women.

Sources said it would “render the party to the dustbin for the next 20 years”, was a “dangerous move” and “distasteful”.

“We’ll be as electable as dog sh*t, just like in Western Australia,” said one well-placed source.

SA senator Anne Ruston could be targeted by conservative members of the Liberal party.

Conservatives, who downplayed any federal intervention, rejected targeting a woman but rather installing like-minded MPs.

Senator Ruston, a former federal cabinet minister who is now the party’s health spokeswoman after being first elected to parliament in 2012, said: “Preselections are a matter for the party members and I will hold my discussions with them privately. I remain focused on working hard to win back government as part of the Coalition leadership team.”

Senator Antic, who has helped lead the bitter factional fight since being elected in 2019, refused to comment.

It’s understood Barker MP Tony Pasin, a conservative faction leader from the state’s South-East, is pushing to confirm his own preselection in the regional seat as quickly as possible amid murmurs of a challenge from other candidates.

Liberal Senator for South Australia Alex Antic. Picture: Lukas Coch/ AAP

State president Rowan Mumford said nominations would open shortly.

“The Liberal Party is commencing the process of undertaking our federal preselections,” he said.

“Any decisions will be made in the context of the recommendations of the publicly available federal election review.”

Mr Pasin declined to comment as he respected the “long standing Liberal Party convention for members to refrain from making public comment regarding preselections”.

“The party’s preselection time table is determined by the state executive and as such any question regarding the same should be directed to the president of the division,” he said.

SA Senator Anne Ruston is at risk of becoming the target of rising party conservatives. Picture: Sean Davey

Several Liberals say the party’s right want to put off the senate preselection process until after its annual general meeting in August, allowing time for a flood of new conservatives to join.

Party sources say emboldened conservatives intend to elevate Senator Antic to first on the upper house ticket and put forward their own new candidates.

This could mean Senator Ruston falling to an unelectable position on the ballot paper unless she can counter this right-faction push.

It’s understood leading moderate, Senator Simon Birmingham, failed to bring the senate preselection process forward to July during a state executive meeting on Monday.

The executive, the party’s state board, then discussed the women’s task-force findings.

Liberal sources say conservatives hope to propel Senator Alex Antic to first on the 2025 senate ticket.

It’s unclear where Senator David Fawcett, who confirmed he would run for another term at the 2025 election, would fall on the senate ticket.

“It’s going to be quite messy,” one Liberal said of the “scorched earth policy” to topple moderate figures.

One party conservative labelled the speculation a “nonsensical and unreasonable attack” on Mr Pasin by the left faction.

“It is damaging David Speirs’ leadership in the process and represents an extraordinary slap in the face for the ‘unity’ about which the left consistently preach but never deliver,” they said.

Sources suggested the recent election of conservative-aligned Ben Hood to the Legislative Council indicated a shift in votes.

Tony Pasin is a leading conservative figure in the state Liberal Party.

Originally published as SA Liberal Party faces damaging new gender row over bid to replace Anne Ruston with Alex Antic on top senate spot