Anti-woke warrior Alex Antic welcomes Liberals’ step to the right
The world has reached ‘peak woke’ and the times now suit conservatives who put their views with pride, says Liberal senator Alex Antic.
The world has reached “peak woke” and the times now suit conservatives who put their views with pride, Liberal senator Alex Antic has declared on his ascent to the No.1 position on the South Australian Senate ticket.
Long dismissed by detractors as a political fringe-dweller and polarising force, the rise of Antic is a powerful demonstration of the changing face of the South Australian Liberal Party.
With the sudden resignation of veteran minister and moderate Simon Birmingham, Antic is now the most prominent federal Liberal in SA after successfully rolling opposition frontbencher Anne Ruston for the top spot in a preselection battle last year.
His elevation confirms the new complexion of the SA Liberal Party as no longer the moderate stronghold of figures such as Birmingham, former defence minister Christopher Pyne, one-term Liberal premier Steven Marshall and his deputy and attorney-general Vickie Chapman.
Indeed, it was the small-l liberal ethos of the Marshall government that helped drive a surge in grassroots conservative membership, many of them people with faith-based backgrounds outraged by Liberal support for euthanasia and late-term abortion.
Antic is reluctant to re-prosecute past wars with the party’s Left, but says the broadening of the party’s membership base has the SA division in what he describes as “great shape”.
“What we are doing is bringing Liberals back to the Liberal Party,” Antic told The Australian.
“We have seen over the last five years really true Liberals coming back to the party in droves. The party is in the best shape it’s been in years. Social conservatives and libertarians are joining for the reasons Menzies intended – having passionate, energetic people determined to have the Liberal Party thrive.
“What we are seeing is a real injection of enthusiasm, as much as anything else. The age demographic is coming down. We are engaging with families who are concerned about social issues, and younger people who are concerned about economic issues. Overall, it’s an incredibly positive thing for the party.”
Antic, 50, is a married father of two and former lawyer who came to politics through local government, serving as an Adelaide City councillor, where he was outspoken in defence of January 26 as Australia Day.
He faced calls from some moderates for his expulsion from the party during the Morrison government when he and four other Liberals sided with One Nation against vaccination mandates.
He was bailed up by SA Health officials and police at Adelaide Airport in 2021 after refusing to reveal his vaccination status, spending 14 days in a medi-hotel where he filmed a video saying he would not be coerced into answering questions by “bureaucratic overlords”.
But with one eye on Washington, Antic said he felt the world had changed significantly and quickly, and that people wanted politicians to stand up to bureaucracy and big government.
“We have reached peak woke and are now coming out the other side,” he said.
“When people can’t pay their mortgages and are being yelled at by the establishment that they have to use paper straws, the tide is going to turn.
“That’s never more apparent than it is at the moment. We saw the defeat of the voice referendum in 2023. That was a definitive moment in Australian history. It showed that no matter how much government, big business, sporting codes, local councils, universities and even the media support an issue, mainstream Australia supports the values of fairness and democracy that have defined the nation.”
Antic now counts a growing number of like-minded friends in SA Liberal parliamentary circles including upper house MLC Ben Hood, who led last year’s narrowly failed charge to repeal Marshall-era abortion laws, and fellow Senate candidate Leah Blyth and Makin candidate Irena Zagladov. He is also hoping to see the successful return of Nicolle Flint in the must-win Labor-held seat of Boothby.
The rising prominence of these conservatives comes as moderates are still licking their wounds from the defeat of Marshall, the departure of Birmingham and the downgrading of Ruston.
Many SA moderates remain furious at Antic, not just for challenging Ruston at all, but to do so on the cusp of the disastrous by-election in Marshall’s former seat of Dunstan, a middle-class enclave with many well-educated female voters whose views on the targeting of Ruston may have eroded Liberal support.
But Senator Antic said the Liberals should be proud of having an open and transparent voting process, adding that he does not think there is any ill will from that battle.
“People are ultimately political professionals,” he said. “We all have differing views. The difference with the Liberal Party is our transparent politics. I get on very well with my colleagues and that will continue.
“The partyroom is very, very harmonious at the moment. We have got an election to win.”
Antic told The Australian that he believed the return of Donald Trump, the rise of Reform in Britain and the inroads by conservatives in western Europe showed small-l liberalism was on the wane.
He said that with Labor having fallen prey to what he calls elitist thought, there was a big opportunity for an openly conservative leader such as Peter Dutton to come through. “The message from overseas is that an Australian model does work,” he said.
“Labor has left blue-collar workers behind for their true love, namely the fawning adulation they receive from big business, the ABC and other progressive organisations. It’s created a situation where people are craving a commonsense message. That should be the Liberal message.
“The party is in its best shape and performs its best when it adheres to the principles of Menzies, when it is a conservative party and pitches a conservative message.”
Antic said the worst thing politicians suffered from in Australia was being sequestered in Parliament House, disconnected from the wants and aspirations of mainstream Australia.
“This building can be like the Chronicles of Narnia,” he said. “You walk in here to this strange alternate universe and get wrapped up in issues that don’t affect real people. The more a political party accepts the message coming from the media and the establishment, the worse they will go. The voice proved that beyond doubt. It was clear to me very quickly that it was not going to win and it was clear to me from the start it was the wrong thing to do.”
As for his own long-term goals, Antic said that people should not see his elevation to the top Senate spot as a springboard for something greater – even though many of his supporters in SA rate him as a potential state leader, even a future federal leader.
“I love being in the Senate,” he said. “It’s a unique place where you can sculpt policy and it gives you a bit more wiggle room to talk about issues than in the lower house.
“I would never rule anything out, but I just think I am very comfortable in the role that I have got here sitting in the house of review.
“It’s a great privilege. I love the job and I would hate ever to take it for granted.”
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