Liberal Democrats Senator David Leyonhjelm — often critical of SA — to quit federal Parliament

A controversial Liberal Democrats senator, who has been highly critical of South Australia, has announced he will abandon federal Parliament to run for a NSW Upper House seat.

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David Leyonhjelm’s decision to quit the Senate will hand Labor more power to embarrass the Morrison government in the crucial final days of Parliament before a federal election.

The Liberal Democrats senator, who has been highly critical of South Australia, has announced he will abandon federal Parliament to run for a NSW Upper House seat in March.

The likely timing of his departure means he is not expected to be replaced in the Senate, leaving the Government down a vote they often relied on.

Labor strategists told The Advertiser this would allow the Opposition to more easily amend Coalition legislation, possibly making it impossible for the Coalition to pass laws in the two Senate sitting days in April.

Senator David Leyonhjelm is quitting federal Parliament.

Labor used the tactic of amending Government legislation to pass its plan to speed up medical transfers of boat people from Manus Island and Nauru to Australia.

In 2016, Senator Leyonhjelm compared the then Labor SA Government to an obese, smelly, 40-year-old man who lived with his mother and refused to work.

Last November he said SA and Tasmania were “beggar states” that should be thrown out of the Federation because they received more GST revenue than they raised.

The controversial libertarian has opposed the extra 450 billions litres that is supposed to be delivered under the Murray Darling Basin Plan and described the Coorong as dying, stagnant, highly saline and stinking. He was engulfed in controversy last year after he told SA Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young in Parliament to “stop shagging men”.

Senator Hanson-Young, who is suing him over further comments he made about her to media in mid-2018, said: “I won’t be missing him in the Senate but I’ll be seeing him in court if indeed he doesn’t come forward and apologise for his appalling comments to me and about me over the past six months.”

Senator Leyonhjelm believed both he and former federal Labor leader Mark Latham, who is running for One Nation, would win NSW seats. He said NSW was becoming “nanny state central” and vowed to tackle state laws around liquor licensing, smoking, vaping, gambling, lockouts and voluntary assisted suicide. He would push to legalise recreational cannabis use and support privately funded pill testing at festivals.