From Schwartz Media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven am. Alexander doesn't want to lead the Liberal Party. He wants to reshape it, and he's already making headway. Senator Andy calls himself an irrelevant backbencher, but he's installed allies, toppled moderates, and pushed the party's politics to the edge. His playbook mirrors Donald Trump's dominate the narrative, fight the culture wars, and never aim for the center. Now he's turning disruption
into power, and moderates feared the party is becoming unelectable. Today, senior reporter for the Saturday Paper, Jason kotsukis on the rise of Alexanderik and the fight for the soul of the Liberal Party. It's Monday, June twenty three. Jason. A single photo of Liberal backbencher alex Antik posing with Donald Trump really set things off last week. Tell me about that post.
So, Daniel. As we all know, Anthony Albanezi has been trying to get a meeting with the US President Donald Trump. He thought he had one at the G seven summit in Canada until Donald Trump suddenly changed the script and said he was going back to Washington early, effectively standing the Prime Minister up. Alexantik, the Senator from South Australia,
the Liberal powerbroker in that state. He was quick to post this picture that he had of himself standing next to Donald Trump with a caption bad luck at Elbow MP. He doesn't meet with everyone. This is really very much his style. Alexandik is of course number one on the
Liberal Senate ticket in South Australia. He comes from the hard right of the Liberal Party and he's been able to effectively take control of the Liberal Party machinery in South Australia and he is the most powerful politician in the Liberal Party in South Australia. He's someone that does instill a bit of fear in that moderate wing of the Liberal Party.
So is that why the photo itself stirred such a big reaction within the party.
I think Donald Trump did so much damage to the Liberal brand during the election campaign that we've all just been through that to see a Liberal come out and lean into that in such a public way did cause quite a bit of groaning inside the parliamentary Liberal Party because I guess what most people are thinking is, how
are we ever going to get back into government. If we have people like Alex Antik posting photos of themselves with Donald Trump and really trying to emulate Donald Trump in the way they do politics here.
The welcome in the country is nothing more than something wealthy city people love to do to make themselves feel good. What does it say about our society when we commemorate Anzac Day for a single day, yet we get a whole month of pride? Now what is point? Young men are entitled to feel let down by the manner in which they're treated in modern Australia, let down by the housing market, let down by the job market, and let down by a society that continues to call them toxic.
So he is just a backbench So how much power does he actually hold within the broader party.
Well within the broader party, many of his colleagues would argue not much. And while he may not be on the front bench, he does have regular guest appearances on on Sky News.
Alex, you've heard what I have to say, tell me what you think about the loss and our viewers outside his viewers will not forgive me if I do not say you should be the next leader of the Liberal Party.
So there I've said it.
So you often see him on Peter Kredlin's program, or Rowan Dean's program, or Rita Panahi's program.
The tragedy of this is that people never really I don't think, saw the very kind, very quick witted and mischievously humored Peter Dutton out of all of this. I wish that there had been more of that, this push on the doge, but also out of countries like Argentina that we're doing this two years ago under Havier Malay are now showing that there's an appetite for lean, mean government, so they shouldn't be And I.
Think he does have through that quite a bit of influence on the parliamentary Liberal Party, and if he wants to kick up a big stink on an issue, he's probably going to be able to bring a group of people with him. Alexanderik rose to kind of national consciousness in March last year when he succeeded in demoting the liberals number one Senate ticket holder Anne Rustin. And Rustin
is a nationally recognized figure. She's a former cabinet minister in the Morrison government and she's also a prominent moderate in the Liberal Party. And I think that really upset a lot of liberals because there wasn't really any point to it. It was just a way to demonstrate his power to flex his muscles. And ultimately that means he's a problem that the liberal leadership will have to deal.
With for this story, Jason, did you reach out to Senator Antique for comment?
I did email him. I actually emailed his media advisor, whose name I was told was Matthew. They wouldn't give me his family name. They gave me an email address, and it was Alexandik that replied to that email, and he was quite irreverent. Was probably the tone that characterized Alexandtik's reply to me, He said, Dear Jason, happy to go with the following In inverted commas, he said, I am always amused by approaches from journalists looking to write a profile piece. But I can see why your outlet
is so interested in writing about me. So, you know, a heavy tone of sarcasm there, and he goes on one wonders how you will take my advocacy for small government, individual rights, and family values. Surely you wouldn't just roll out many of the commonly used phrases as adopted by the left wing media such as far right or hard right, and then he finishes off with a brush off but also a bit of a wink here. If you can forward me a link, I will read it when I find a moment.
So he was just trying to betray himself as a humble backbencher from South Australia.
That's right. It's interesting that he seems to object to these kinds of descriptions far right and hard right, but I don't know that there's any other way to describe Alexandik because the positions he takes are on the hard right of Australian politics. There's certainly not where most voters are, and as we know from Susan Lee, the new leader of the Federal Liberal Party, that's what she sees as being her mission is to meet voters where they are.
And I think she's going to have a huge fight on her hands in trying to take alex on and undermine the influence that he has on the Parliamentary Liberal Party and ultimately on voters out there in the electric.
After the break. Alexanderik wants the party to focus on abortions, gender dysphoria and killing net zero. Jason Less drilled down on Alexander's ideology a little bit more. Can you give me a rundown of his politics and the direction he wants to take the Liberal Party in.
I think the one issue that in capsule let this question best is net zero. This is Australia's commitment for net zero greenhouse emissions by twenty fifty. And Alexandik sees net zero as a lion in the sand.
Putting Australia first has got to mean dumping net zero, and I hope we do come to that position, and I hope we come to it quickly as a party.
He's not going to sit quietly on the sidelines and allow the Liberal Party to recommit itself to net zero. And earlier this month, at a State Council meeting of the South Australian Liberal Party, a meeting that was dominated by Conservatives who are aligned with Alexandik, the South Australian Liberal Party formally voted to reject net zero.
Alex you were the driving force behind the South Australian Liberal Party's recent decision to abandon net zero by twenty fifty, and he called the federal Libs also walk away from net zero, but just hours later, the South Australian Liberal leader poured cold water on the move, telling reporters that none of these policy discussions bind any of the parliamentary wings of the party. Tell my audience what's going on.
Are the South Australian Libs walking away from net zero or are you sort of still half pregnant?
Well, look, Rita, what we're talking about.
Actually the result of that is that you've got the party now trying to australe three contradictory positions. Susan Lee's federal wing has net zero under review, You've got the South Australian parliamentary Liberals who support net zero, but you've now got the state division that formerly opposes net zero. And I think this is an outcome that's not just confusing,
it's incendiary. And you've now got senior Liberals in South Australia fearing when they have to fight the next state election in South Australia next March, that they might go even lower than the thirteen seats they have in the Legislative Assembly, that they might even go backwards.
Here in South Australia, we have been restocking the shelves at membership level with people that share our values, true Liberals. They have been pre selecting people who have been making their way to Parliament to the extent that they can.
I mean, obviously you've been speaking to Monaris within the party. What have they been telling you about him and their concerns about Antick?
Well, one Liberal I spoke to described him as a very dangerous man. This person added that Alexandik would make a fascinating case study in psychological analysis, because they don't think the average Liberal has any idea what Alexandik's endgame is. Is he trying to destroy the party and rebuild it in the image of the Republican Party.
In the US.
Does he actually want to be Australia's Donald Trump? This person doesn't actually know the answer to that question, but thinks it's very strange. Nonetheless, another liberal spoke to described alexanderk as the most cold hearted, vindictive person they had
ever encountered in politics. Another person I spoke to said to me that you turn up to a Liberal Party meeting in South Australia these days and you get yelled at about late term abortions or gender dysphoria or puberty blockers or things that normal Liberals are not really interested in. They find that the party they love is now more interested in hysterically pursuing these ideological crusades, things they don't want to have anything to do with, and that mainstream
voters want nothing to do with. And these members are leaving the party because they will not be dictated to by Alexandik and his supporters, who this person added are probably more suited to Pauline Hanson's One Nation.
So do you think that Senator Antik and the playbook that he is using, one that is largely adopted from Trumpian politics, is ultimately harm the Liberal Party?
I do think so, Daniel, because you know, as Susan Lee said, I think in her first press conference as leader, the Liberal Party has to meet voters where they are, and voters are not where Alexandik is. So if he can continue to influence the debate in the way that he's trying to, pulling the party further to the right, then I don't think the Liberal Party has any hope of winning back government. They've got to move back towards
the center. They've got to get back to those issues that are its traditional strengths, particularly on the economy, that the Liberal Party has always stood for. But they have to start talking about those issues in a serious way, not become obsessed by these cultural war issues.
So he has a degree of power within the party, and he seems to be held bent on not taking any sort of advice out of the lessons of the last election in terms of meeting closer to the center. Despite that, do you think he has a chance of succeeding with some of his ideological crusades.
Well, he's not on his own when it comes.
To net zero.
We saw in a Four Corners episode straight after the federal election, that disastrous May three election for the Liberal Party. We saw Andrew Hasty, perhaps a future leader of the Liberal Party, say that he was wanting to get out of the net zero straight jacket.
Do you think that policy should be reviewed? Your commitment to net zero by twenty fifty.
The question of net zero again, that's a straight jacket that I'm already getting out of. The real question is should astray in families and businesses be paying more for the electricity.
Which surprised me coming from such a clearly intelligent, sensible person as Andrew Hasty. For him to say that was a signal. I think that there are large sections of the parliamentary and Liberal Party that are unhappy with net zero as a policy position. So I think there's quite
a bit of debate left in this fight. But I also think it's a pointless battle because the Liberal Party cannot afford to give up net zero and hope to be a party of the center, because most voters do accept that climate change is real, they do accept that the Australian government has to do something about it, and that we've got to move towards net zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Jason, it's been a pleasure talking with you and a pleasure working with you.
Daniel, an absolute pleasure talking with you, and I hope we continue to talk into the future.
Also in the news, the United States has bombed three nuclear sites in Iran. US President Donald Trump confirmed the attacks via truth Social calling them quote very successful. Trump
said all American warplanes were now outside Iranian airspace. The bombings come after a week of uncertainty about whether the United States would directly intervene in the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, and Green's leader Larissa Waters says Australia cannot allow itself to be dragged into another war in
the Middle East. Calling America's strikes on Iran a blatant breach of international law, Senator Waters said the Australian government should take the opportunity to withdraw from the Orchest Agreement and condemn America's actions. I'm Daniel James. This has been seven am. Thanks for listening.