August 21, 2026 — 11:57am
Federal Liberal president Tony Abbott has weighed in on rogue senator Alex Antic’s bid to take over the South Australian division and criticised a push by the senator’s faction to expel former foreign minister Alexander Downer.
As the party’s federal executive meets on Friday to discuss the troubled branch among other things, Abbott told this masthead late on Thursday: “Any Liberal wanting to expel Alexander Downer is crackers.”
The former prime minister has for weeks been trying to find an alternative candidate to run against Antic, who regularly defies Opposition Leader Angus Taylor in Canberra. Yet the senator has not bowed out and the increasingly reckless conduct of his faction in Adelaide has pushed Antic’s colleagues to mull more drastic action.
“My expectation is that a president will emerge for the South Australian division who is committed to beating Labor at state and federal level,” Abbott said.
