Moderate Liberals losing ground as hard-right faction looms large in Senate battle
Moderate Liberals losing ground as hard-right faction looms large in Senate battle
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Leah Blyth, the party’s state president, is most likely to take Simon Birmingham’s former seat in the upper house with Alex Antic’s backing. The Liberal party’s moderate wing is set to lose more influence in federal parliament with an Alex Antic-backed candidate tipped to take the Senate seat once held by Simon Birmingham.
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Birmingham, who was elected in 2007 and resigned on Tuesday, led the federal party’s moderate faction and was one of the few remaining senior Liberals in the faction after losses in the 2022 federal election, including inner city MPs Jason Falinski and Tim Wilson.
With the backing of the hard-right Antic faction, Leah Blyth, the party’s state president, is most likely to take Birmingham’s former seat in the upper house after the vote takes place on Friday evening, Liberal sources told Guardian Australia under the condition of anonymity, due to party rules.
Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email. Blyth will be challenged by moderate candidate, Sam Hooper, a lawyer and former staffer to the now state opposition leader Vincent Tarzia, as well as the unaligned Adelaide city councillor Henry Davis.
Liberal sources said Blyth would likely emerge the clear winner with Antic’s backing but suggested Hooper could win over some of the remaining moderate and centrist delegates in the state. Davis told Guardian Australia in December his win was unlikely without the support of Antic’s votes.
