Adelaide city councillor Henry Davis, who this week dressed in drag as the Adelaide lord mayor complete with pearls and falsetto, is set to challenge the frontrunner for Simon Birmingham’s Senate spot.
He says firebrand conservative senator Alex Antic wants a “clean sweep” to power in the Liberal party, including by installing current state party president, Leah Blyth, in the casual vacancy created by Birmingham’s resignation last week.
Liberals say Blyth is the most likely replacement, although others could still run – but either way the hard-right Antic faction will pick the winner.
Even Davis concedes he’s unlikely to win with the “Antic faction” dominant in the party councils and executive.
Blyth was previously president of the women’s council. Under her watch last year the council passed motions to call on the federal party to support federal “born alive” legislation, the state party to “define women and girls as human females”, and the state opposition to champion the removal of the need for health workers to prove they were vaccinated.
In October, Liberal MLC Ben Hood thanked Blyth for organising a forum about his controversial legislation to force women at 27 weeks and six days pregnant who sought an abortion to be induced with the foetus alive, to be kept or adopted out. The Greens termed it “forced birth” legislation while he called it his “live births bill”.
Birmingham, a moderate, has been in parliament since 2007, and in 2022 won his latest six-year term, the remainder of which will be fulfilled by his replacement.
Meanwhile, Davis had a big week.
He appeared in court as part of his defamation case against two fellow councillors. He claims they falsely labelled him a misogynist. According to media reports, one councillor has apologised and retracted his comments, while the other plans to defend the claim.
He also parodied the Adelaide lord mayor, Dr Jane Lomax-Smith, by dressing up in a floral blouse, blond wig and pearl necklace to critique council policies.
Lomax-Smith said she loved “a bit of satire”. “But it works best if accompanied by facts and is in the hands of the talented,” she said.
In March, Antic, who is known for his “anti-woke” stance and has been labelled “Trumpian” by former colleagues, rolled senior Liberal Anne Ruston for the top position in the preselection ballot for next year’s election.
At that point he backed Blyth for a spot, and she ended up in the likely unwinnable fourth position.
Now, she could skate past that process to win the preselection for the casual vacancy created by Birmingham’s departure.
Trish Worth was a moderate in the Howard government who is still active in state politics, and sits on the state council. She told the ABC in the wake of the Black byelection (which the Liberals lost) that the party’s hard right led by Antic had changed the makeup of the council.
Davis said he was not factionally aligned but would be a good centrist candidate.
“I want to make sure there’s a candidate from the sensible centre represented at the preselection,” he said.
Asked whether it should be a moderate who takes over from Birmingham, he said that wasn’t how it worked because Antic controls the state branches and councils. “He probably just has a small majority but it’s winner takes all.
“Our primary vote is dwindling so significantly year on year that the people remaining are going more to the right and I think that will only continue as we alienate ourselves from everyday Australians. That’s why we’ve seen the rise of the teals.”
Davis, who is also the SA/Northern Territory Freemasons grand registrar, said people “loved the take” of his video imitating Lomax-Smith. “There are a lot of stuffy politicians who are failing to communicate effectively with people so I decided to use humour to cross party lines,” he said.
In his valedictory speech, Birmingham said he feared “the world is headed into an era where populism trumps the policy”.
“Those on the harder edges of the left and the right who seek to divide our country only make us weaker in our division,” he said.
“Little is gained by culture wars, politicians obsessing over what happens in private bedrooms or anyone seeking to override evidence-based medical practice.”
Antic has been outspoken on transgender rights and Covid policies.
Birmingham, the foreign affairs spokesperson and former trade minister, will start in February as ANZ’s head of Asia-Pacific engagement and chairman, South Australia, reporting to group executive, the bank announced on Thursday.
Blyth has been contacted for comment. Asked to confirm whether Blyth was his pick and whether he was going for a “clean sweep” of the party, Antic replied: “Yawn. Get some new material.”
