Cory Bernardi calls himself an Australian Conservative, removes Liberal Party references from social media
CORY Bernardi has deleted his Twitter account, and called himself an ‘Australian Conservative’, sparking speculation about his future with the Liberal Party.
CORY Bernadi has overhauled his social media accounts ahead of his “massive” plans for 2017, deleting almost every reference to belonging to the Liberal Party.
The South Australian senator has deleted every post from his Twitter account and now has no mention of the Liberal Party in his profile.
And supporters will have to search pretty hard to find a reference to the party on Senator Bernardi’s public Facebook profile too.
It now contains only one mention of the party in listing his current office as “Senator for South Australia, Liberal Party of Australia”.
Senator Bernardi’s social media overhaul adds to mounting speculation he will break away from the Liberal Party this year to form a new conservative party.
Liberal MPs urged Mr Bernardi to remain with the party in December after reports he was considering leaving.
Last year, the senator signalled “massive” plans for 2017 in a final post to his Australian Conservatives website.
“Our new state-of-the-art website is almost ready to go, and we will be launching it early next year, along with a number of important campaigns,” the update reads.
“Please watch this space for further updates.”
Mr Bernardi has not commented on his plans for the year as yet but notes he will update supporters in late January.
It’s believed the senator could have the backing of Australia’s richest woman Gina Rinehart who, like Senator Bernardi, has praised Donald Trump for listening to the people of America.
The pair reportedly met members of the President-elect’s inner circle in Washington in November.
There have also been unconfirmed reports Mr Bernardi was a guest of Ms Rinehart’s on a luxury cruiseliner over the Christmas holidays.