‘Fed up’: SA Liberals mutiny in mass exodus
More than 200 South Australian Liberal Party members have dramatically quit over Sussan Ley’s leadership and the party’s stance on emissions targets.
More than 200 members have suddenly quit the South Australian Liberal Party in protest at what they see as Sussan Ley’s weak leadership and the failure of the federal branch of the party to abandon a net-zero emissions target.
The Australian can reveal that SA Liberal director Alex Hyde briefed the state executive on Monday night about the mass exodus, which represents roughly 5 per cent of the party’s entire South Australian membership.
The resignations began dribbling in when members were asked to renew for the 2025-26 financial year but sources say they have been coming “in a rush” over the past month as the federal Liberals brawl over climate targets.
One senior source said it would be wrong to suggest that the members who had quit were “extremists or hardliners”, rather longstanding members who were “simply fed up”.
“These aren’t cookers and crackpots,” the source said. “They are people who have been longstanding members of the party for 20, 30, 40 years.
“One even sent a letter to several parliamentarians, many of whom he knows personally, saying he was very despondent but that he felt like he did not even know what the party stood for any more.”
The SA division is now under the control of party conservatives led by senator Alex Antic and the Mount Gambier-based member for Barker, Tony Pasin. It voted in June to formally reject net-zero targets at its state council meeting.
Since then grassroots party members have become frustrated at the federal leadership’s inability to take a clear stand in the issue.
Those tensions have been fuelled by the fact that the SA Liberal parliamentary party remains wedded in principle to net zero, with several MPs within the historically moderate-dominated branch worried about the impact of opposing climate targets in middle-class electorates ahead of the state poll in March.
Party conservatives say the Liberals are bleeding support by refusing to reflect traditional values or respond to voter and business dismay over power prices.
The issue risks flaring as a major headache for Opposition Leader Vincent Tarzia just four months out from the election, with Peter Malinauskas’s Labor government riding high in the polls and eyeing a comfortable victory.
The Australian understands that, in his presentation on Monday night at Liberal HQ, state director Alex Hyde told the executive that the 200-plus members who tendered their resignations had cited two key complaints.
“Universally they went to two things: the leadership under Sussan Ley and the failure to listen to grassroots members by opposing net zero,” a senior source said.
Another source said there was growing consternation about the federal Liberal leader’s political judgment and her moderate views.
“There was a bit of discussion afterwards around her Press Club speech and the fact that she kicked off her address with the welcome to country,” one party figure said.
“She seems to be consistently striking the chord.”
The source said the overriding feeling among the members who had quit was that their voices were not being heard.
“This is a party which has historically valued and respected the input of members,” the source said.
“On net zero in SA they feel like they said their piece almost six months ago and the party’s leadership is simply ignoring them.”
When the motion rejecting net zero was passed by the state council in June, Senator Antic fired up party moderates by tweeting a video of Donald Trump on X on Monday which he jokingly captioned: “ President Trump when asked about the SA Liberal Party rejecting Net Zero on the weekend.”
In the video, the US President says: “We’re going to win so much you may even get tired of winning! You might say Mr President, please, no more winning!”
Senator Antic told The Australian at the time he was buoyed by the state council result and that it should force a total rethink of the nation’s commitment to net zero.
“Australia’s energy policy has got to be more sophisticated than simply adopting a slogan concocted by globalist bureaucrats more than a decade ago,” he said.
“Net zero is a threat to our economy, our security and to our country and I was very heartened by the decision by the South Australian Liberal Party membership to call for it to be scrapped.”
Tensions between Senator Antic and the moderates have flared again this week after some party conservatives including Andrew Hastie and Barnaby Joyce suggested paid parental leave under the Fair Work Act could be used to facilitate late-term abortions.
Liberal senator Jane Hume accused conservatives of using the Fair Work legislation as a “Trojan horse” for personal views, and Ms Ley also branded the comments “insensitive”, prompting Senator Antic to rebuke his leader by name and reject her criticism.
The latest row within the SA Liberals came on the same day Mr Tarzia was trying to spruik his tax plan for the looming election promising the full abolition of stamp duty, a policy Mr Malinauskas said would bankrupt the state.
In a bleak twist, state Liberals in South Australia – blamed for dragging the federal Liberal vote this year amid local factional chaos and a drug scandal that claimed former leader David Speirs – now fear the federal brawling will hurt their chances at the March election.
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