I’m not gonna take it any more: cross Craig Kelly

Craig Kelly tells Scott Morrison he will support supply and confidence bills but he is open to voting against other legislation.

Craig Kelly in his Parliament House office on Tuesday after he moved to the crossbench. Picture: Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison has lost a working majority in parliament after Craig Kelly’s resignation and move to the crossbench, with the Hughes MP warning he is prepared to vote against the government.

Mr Kelly’s decision to quit the Liberal Party came after the Prime Minister demanded he stop spreading misinformation about COVID-19 treatments and take action against his office manager, Frank Zumbo, who faces allegations of inappropriate behaviour.

“If I’m to continue to act in line with my conscience and principles … and to speak fearlessly and faithfully represent my constituents, I have no alternative other than to resign as a member of the Liberal Party effective immediately,” Mr Kelly wrote to Mr Morrison in a letter dated Tuesday.

Mr Kelly was facing a preselection defeat in his southern Sydney electorate after being saved before previous elections by Mr Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull, then the prime minister.

His departure increases the number of crossbenchers to seven and trims the government’s numbers in the lower house to 75, leaving Speaker Tony Smith, a Liberal MP, with the casting vote.

Craig Kelly gives a speech to the parliament after Question Time on Tuesday. Picture: Gary Ramage

Mr Kelly told Mr Morrison he would support supply and confidence bills and “seek to vote in a manner consistent with all official policies that the Coalition took to the 2019 election”.

But he told The Australian he was open to voting against other legislation and is expected to resist any move to legislate a target for net zero emissions by 2050.

Mr Kelly, who is being courted by some National Party MPs including Barnaby Joyce, also said his new independence would allow him to openly support using ivermectin and hyroxychloroquine as coronavirus treatments.

Neither are recommended by health authorities as effective or safe for use treating COVID-19.

Mr Morrison said he had insisted Mr Kelly meet key commitments after counselling him over his promotion of the unorthodox treatments this month.

“He no longer felt that he could meet those commitments, but I can tell you, my standards don’t change,” Mr Morrison said.

The Prime Minister also revealed he had told Mr Kelly about his concerns over Mr Zumbo’s ongoing employment. “He has long understood what my expectations were about how he would deal with that matter,” he said.

The Finance Department is investigating allegations of inappropriate workplace behaviour against Mr Zumbo at the request of the Prime Minister’s Office.

Mr Zumbo appeared at Sutherland Local Court last year after police obtained an order against him to protect a woman who had made a complaint about his alleged conduct in April.

Mr Zumbo has denied any wrongdoing and no charges have been made against him.

Mr Zumbo denied allegations of inappropriate conduct toward a teenage girl who had been an intern in the office, and described the claims as “uncorroborated, false and defamatory”.

Mr Kelly said he had found no basis to the allegations against Mr Zumbo, and said he gave a report to the Prime Minister’s Office.

Prime Minister says he insisted that Craig Kelly meet key commitments after counselling him over his promotion of unorthodox COVID-19 treatments this month. Picture: Getty Images)

“Mr Zumbo is entitled to the presumption of innocence and he has been a ¬target of factional warlords for some time,” he said. “They have run a slander and smear campaign against him.

“The Prime Minister asked me to investigate allegations. When I investigated them, I found they had little or no substance. In fact there were numerous factual errors. I gave a report then to the Prime Minister’s chief of staff.”

Despite lobbying from Mr Joyce for Mr Kelly to join the National Party — which would require him to join the NSW division and win the backing of a majority of the party room — the Hughes MP said he was likely not to join a party and run at the next election as an independent.

Nationals leader Michael McCormack, who was challenged for the leadership by Mr Joyce last year and faces ongoing internal dissent, also pushed back against Mr Kelly joining the Nationals.

“The Member for Hughes made clear in the House today that he will spend the remainder of the Parliamentary term sitting on the crossbench as an independent,” he told The Australian.

“The Nationals won’t be distracted by events in Canberra — we will keep delivering for the communities in regional, rural and remote Australia we so proudly represent.”

Along with Mr Joyce, Mr Kelly was after his resignation on Tuesday visited by One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts and Katter’s Australia Party MP Bob Katter.

Despite his resignation causing uncertainty for the Morrison government, some Liberal Party figures celebrated the departure of Mr Kelly on Tuesday.

NSW Energy Minister Matt Kean, a moderate faction powerbroker, said Mr Kelly’s “disrespect for scientific evidence (had) no place in a major Australian political party”. “Good riddance,” Mr Kean wrote on Twitter.

Mr Kelly said he would support increasing dole payments by $50-a-fortnight and the government’s reliability energy grid, despite it not including coal.