Malcolm Turnbull, senior Liberals blast Cory Bernardi’s decision to leave party, call on him to quit

THE Prime Minister says Senator Cory Bernardi has broken faith with the people of South Australia and should resign from Parliament.

• THE FALLOUT: Cory quits — but what about SA election?
• THE DECISION: Reluctant and relieved, Bernardi quits Libs
• ANALYSIS: Cory’s real aim: ‘Make myself redundant’
• EXPERT: Defection will ‘cost him his career’
• IN-DEPTH: Life of a renegade Senator

PRIME Minister Malcolm Turnbull says Senator Cory Bernardi has broken faith with the people of South Australia and should resign from Parliament.

Senator Bernardi yesterday quit the Liberal Party but will sit on the Senate crossbench under the banner of his new Australian Conservatives party.

Mr Turnbull said the Government would continue to work with Senator Bernardi in Parliament. But he said it would be more appropriate for Senator Bernardi to resign immediately and stand for Parliament at the next election.

“He’s talked about the importance of keeping faith with the electorate,’’ the Prime Minister said.

“The Liberal Party of South Australia and the people of South Australia only seven months ago elected him to the Senate for a six-year term as a Liberal Senator.

“So the honourable thing for Cory to do is to resign from the Senate and then run again at the next election as an independent or under his new party.”

Mr Turnbull said it was up to Senator Bernardi to explain his decision to SA voters.

“Now, he’s chosen not to do that (resign). That’s his decision – he has to explain it and obviously we will work with him as we will with every other senator to secure the passage of the government’s legislation,’’ the Prime Minister said.

If Senator Bernardi had resigned from Parliament the Liberals would be been able to choose a replacement senator who would have been automatically endorsed by the SA Parliament to fill the vacancy.

Mr Turnbull indicated Senator Bernardi had never told him he was considering leaving the Liberals.

“I’ve spoken with Cory Bernardi on a number of occasions – but if a person wishes to leave a political party, plans to leave a political party, then normal practice and courtesy would suggest that they would talk to the leader about it,’’ he said.

Senator Bernardi’s decision to quit the Liberals and sit as a crossbencher sent waves of anger through his former party on Tuesday.

“No one in the history of this place can accuse me of being a populist. If I have been a populist it hasn’t been successful,” he said after ditching his party.

He certainly wasn’t popular in Canberra, or in Adelaide, after splitting to sit on the Senate crossbench as an independent.

Mr Turnbull and senior South Australian Liberal Christopher Pyne called on the South Australian to quit the Senate completely.

Former Prime Minister and past ally Tony Abbott said if the Government wasn’t keeping everyone happy, that was a reason to stay and fight, not leave.

SA Liberal Party President Steve Murray said Senator Bernardi had failed to honour his commitment after being elected as a Liberal.

South Australian federal Liberal MP Christopher Pyne has called on his former colleague Cory Bernardi to quit the Senate. Picture: Gary Ramage

The party is “deeply disappointed”, he said.

Former Senator Sean Edwards — who failed to get re-elected after being bumped down the Senate ticket at the last election — said Senator Bernardi would only appeal to a “narrow base of right-wing supporters”, and that he had been a “big distraction”.

It is understood that the state’s two top Liberals, Mr Pyne and Senator Simon Birmingham, have not spoken to him about his decision.

Senator Bernardi said he still wanted to reflect the foundations of the Liberal Party — just using “a different vehicle”.

“I know how difficult this is for all my colleagues and I hate putting them in this position but I’m doing it because I think it’s necessary,” he told The Advertiser.

“I know that some of them will be angry with me but I only have goodwill towards them … some of them will be bruised for quite some time. But it is what it is.

Senator Cory Bernardi in the Senate chamber, just before announcing his defection from the Liberal Party. Picture: AAP

“I’m not joining another team. I’m trying to reflect as strongly and positively as I can the foundations of the Liberal Party. Which I think too few of my colleagues are.”

State Opposition Leader Steven Marshall said Senator Bernardi’s desertion was “hugely disappointing” and said neither Senator Bernardi nor former state leader Martin Hamilton-Smith had the courage to go to an election as an independent.

Premier Jay Weatherill said Senator Bernardi’s defection demonstrated the hopeless division in the Liberal Party and reflected terribly on Mr Marshall and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership.

“The reason you’re seeing this happening in SA is because Steven Marshall stands for nothing, Malcolm Turnbull stands for nothing and so people are defecting from the local Liberals and setting up their own operations,” he said.

SA Labor Senator Penny Wong said it was “extraordinary” to see Senator Bernardi go, and that it showed a “bitterly divided government”.

The most succinct reaction came from Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce, when he was asked what advice he would give the new independent.

“Pray,” he said. “Pray hard.”

Originally published as Malcolm Turnbull, senior Liberals blast Cory Bernardi’s decision to leave party, call on him to quit