Cory Bernardi in ‘no hurry’ to give up Senate spot

Independent senator Cory Bernardi has declared he is in “no hurry” to leave politics.

Senator Cory Bernardi. Picture: AAP

Independent senator Cory Bernardi has declared he is in “no hurry” to leave politics and wants “to give Scott Morrison the very best chance to succeed”, in what is a major boost for the Morrison government’s hopes of implementing its policy agenda.

But Senator Bernardi’s decis­ion to stay on has frustrated the hopes of Liberal Party aspirants banking on his early departure from politics, including Georgina Downer, the daughter of former party leader Alexander Downer, and a half-dozen other South Australian Liberals eyeing pre­selection for his Senate spot.

Senator Bernardi, who quit the Liberals and formed the Aust­ralian Conservatives in 2017 in disgust at Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership, deregistered the fledgling party two months ago after it bombed with voters at the federal election.

With rumours swirling about his future, Senator Bernardi has told The Australian he may end up serving most of this term of office as an independent — and one who will “almost always” back the Morrison government.

“My term was originally scheduled to end in June 2020 and I always thought I would consider my future beyond politics in my 50th year,” said Senator Bernardi, who turns 50 in November.

“I will see how things pan out over the next two or so years, I know there are a lot of people in the South Australian Liberal Party who would love my seat back but I’ve got a few things to see through before I go.”

Senator Bernardi revealed he recently had a 20-minute conversation with the Prime Minister about religious freedom laws and said he still enjoyed a “great relationship” with Liberal Senate leader Mathias Cormann.

“I am particularly passionate about the issue of religious freedom,” he said. “If you enshrine freedoms you actually limit them and you also empower people who want to misuse them, so we need to be careful how we tread.”

His declaration has irritated some South Australian Liberals, one of whom said: “Cory should have gone the moment he ­betrayed the party. We are not angry about it any more but as a matter of principle it still stands.”

However, Senator Bernardi said his continuing presence in the Senate would hopefully be of benefit to the Coalition.

“I want to work well with the government,” he said. “I have said I will support them. I have telegraphed my punches and said that while there will be certain things that they don’t get, I want to give Scott Morrison the best opportunity to succeed.

“If I was going to be a thorn in the side of the government, it basically means they have to deal with the Centre Alliance and One Nation, who can blackmail them about almost anything to get their legislation through.

“But if the default position is that on most votes they have probably got Bernardi, there are a number of permutations where they can get legislation through.”