When a federal senator is elected president of his state Liberal Party, the coverage often arrives already loaded with adjectives. “Rebel.” “Controversial.” “Firebrand.” Senator Alex Antic has heard them all. Rather than feed the cycle, he largely refuses the walking-shot interviews and the short soundbites.

In a long-form discussion with Topher Field on the Topher Project, Antic talks through the media dynamic, the deliberate rebuilding of Liberal membership in South Australia, and a broader diagnosis of over-regulation, debt and institutional capture. The episode is useful now because state and federal election cycles are approaching and questions about how parties actually renew themselves are no longer academic.

Topher Field opens by noting the contrast: mainstream outlets treat Antic as a risky interview, yet he sits down readily for longer conversations. Antic’s response is pragmatic. He argues the labels function as clickbait in a competitive media environment. A straightforward description of a local senator and former state-level party president, he says, simply does not sell. So the coverage reaches for “controversial,” “maverick” or “anti-vax.” He contends there is little value for him or for voters in participating. After one recent event he left by a side door rather than supply the expected footage. He prefers platforms where he can speak at length and points readers toward social media as a more direct channel, provided free speech online is protected.

The conversation then turns to the substance behind the labels. Antic describes a multi-year effort inside the South Australian Liberal Party to recruit members who share the party’s stated values and are prepared to pay their own way and turn up. The Liberal structure, he notes, operates on a one-member, one-vote basis for key organisational roles. New members have been organised to attend meetings, contribute to policy motions and participate in pre-selections. The result, he claims, is a membership that is in better shape and more active than the ageing base that previously complained about needing more people. When that growth occurred, some internal and external voices treated it as suspect. Antic observes that a sporting club achieving similar membership growth would attract little comment.

A concrete example is the net-zero policy motion. Members drafted and passed a motion opposing the policy; it moved through state council and other divisions and was eventually adopted by the federal party. Antic presents this as evidence that membership can lead rather than merely follow the parliamentary wing. He argues the members were ahead of many MPs on COVID responses as well. His stated goal as state president is to improve the pathway for policy motions so that engaged members continue to have a reason to stay involved. The parliamentary party remains unbound by membership decisions, a separation he regards as healthy, but the feedback loop matters.

On the national picture, Antic is blunt. He describes Parliament House as a vortex in which reason can disappear and elected representatives risk becoming marionettes for bureaucracy, overseas private equity, super funds and external think tanks. The legislative output, he suggests, often looks like activity for its own sake. He points to the volume of free-speech-related bills over recent decades as one illustration. His preferred corrective is not more process but more strong-minded Liberals inside the building who will push back and prioritise repeal over endless new regulation. He notes Australia’s debt trajectory and the decline in living standards as symptoms of a deeper problem that will not be solved by changing the name on the door alone.

Field presses on the practical implications for readers: join a party, major or minor, and participate. Antic agrees that vacant political space is filled by those who treat it as a career machine. Real people with families turning up to AGMs changes the character of the organisation. He is clear that the work is unfinished and that election results have not always matched the quality of candidates produced. The episode does not offer detailed policy blueprints or independent verification of membership numbers or internal vote margins; those claims rest on Antic’s account. What it does supply is a coherent argument that party renewal begins with membership density and policy courage rather than media management.