SOAP BOX: Bernardi defection good for Liberals

CORY Bernardi is right about one thing - the Liberal Party is not the right party for him.

Senator Cory Bernardi. Picture: PAUL MILLER-AAP

CORY Bernardi is right about one thing - the Liberal Party is not the right party for him.

And there are a few people remaining in the LNP that probably ought also to consider joining him.

Bernardi's decision to bail from the party that put him in the Senate and let him give voice to his brand of far right ideology is about the best thing that could have happened to the Liberal Party and to Australian politics as a whole.

For while Bernardi may call himself conservative, he is anything but.

His relentlessly negative and fictionalised commen- tary on everything from climate change to the Safe Schools program has been disruptive to the national conversation and muddied attempts to develop policies that genuinely benefit Australians.

More than that, his willingness to attack his leader over these issues and to use his position as a Senator to promote what amounts to a radical agenda has muddied the Federal coalition's role as the leader of genuine conservative politics within Australia.

Some LNP supporters will follow Bernardi, but we Australians are not a people of extremes and many voters would likely welcome the loss of distraction from the party's traditional con- servative values and voicing the good of the nation ahead of the pursuit of ideology.

As for Bernardi's new 'party', he'll battle with One Nation for support. Pauline Hanson's party already shares some of his more extreme views, but has also put some effort into voicing the problems of ordinary Australians.