Tony Abbott opens door to new candidate to counter rogue Liberal senator Antic

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.

Abbott’s decision to comment publicly on the prospect of a challenger to Antic opens the door to a new entrant who could secure the important backing of Abbott and, by extension Taylor, who has given Abbott his imprimatur to settle the saga in South Australia.

This masthead reported on Thursday that some members of the federal party wanted to launch an extraordinary takeover of the South Australian division over fears that Antic’s forces were pushing to arbitrarily expel his high-profile critics.

A text message sent by one of Antic’s backers last year and seen by this masthead said: “Downer needs to be expelled from the SA Liberal Party. The process to do this should be looked into ahead of time.” He cited a famous meeting in which the former ambassador to the UK discussed with FBI agents the prospect of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential election.

In relation to expelling another member, Antic’s forces said they felt free to do so because they were satisfied that a federal takeover of the branch, giving officials in Canberra full control, was unlikely.

The conservatives changed the South Australian division’s constitution last year to make it more difficult for the federal division to intervene. The party holds dear its federated model and state rights, meaning the party may opt for a less dramatic action to counter Antic.

The Antic saga is a test of Taylor’s grip on the party and a demonstration of the depths of the party’s administrative troubles at state level, bar the successful LNP in Queensland.

Many of the senator’s right-wing federal colleagues simply wish he would quit to join One Nation, this masthead reported last month . Antic has for months kept alive the prospect of defecting, including when he posted about having a beer with Corey Bernardi weeks before the South Australian One Nation leader took seats off Antic’s state Liberals in March.

Antic’s forces say that party moderates and Senator Leah Blyth, who was an Antic ally before they fell out, are fighting Antic because his allies would defeat them in preselection.