Moderate Liberals losing ground as hard-right faction looms large in Senate battle

Leah Blyth, the party's state president, is most likely to take Simon Birmingham's former seat in the upper house with Alex Antic's backing

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The Liberal party's moderate wing is set to lose more influence in federal parliament with an Alex Antic-backed candidate tipped to take the Senate seat once held by Simon Birmingham.

Birmingham, who was elected in 2007 and resigned on Tuesday, led the federal party's moderate faction and was one of the few remaining senior Liberals in the faction after losses in the 2022 federal election, including inner city MPs Jason Falinski and Tim Wilson.

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