Senator Cory Bernardi announced this week that he will be winding up his party, the Australian Conservatives, following a lacklustre vote at the 2019 federal election.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Bernardi said that at the election his Australian Conservative party polled “a tiny fraction of the votes” required. He said potential voters returned to supporting the Coalition under Morrison.
Labor leader Jay Weatherill concedes defeat as South Australians opt to toss the party out after 16 years.
AAP/David Mariuz
While Labor lost in South Australia it was far from a disaster, and new Liberal premier Steven Marshall will need to move quickly to ensure he does not test voters’ patience.
The outcome of the three-horse race between Jay Weatherill’s Labor, Nick Xenophon’s SA-Best and Steven Marshall’s Liberals is uncertain.
AAP/Tracey Nearmy
Tim Rogers has threatened to take legal action after one of his songs was included in Cory Bernardi’s conservative Australia Day playlist. Rogers’s case rests on obscure legal provisions known as moral rights.
‘Vote No’ campaign material distributed by the Australian Conservatives claims that if same-sex marriage is legalised, the Safe Schools program will be ‘mandatory in schools’. We looked at the facts.
Tony Abbott is showing no sign of backing off his continual challenges to the government in his public commentary.
Brendan Esposito/AAP
Christianity plays a relatively minor role in Australian politics. Instead, it takes the guise of a general cultural conservatism, as demonstrated by the same-sex marriage and school funding debates.
Cory Bernardi’s Australian Conservatives party has amalgamated with Family First, which shares similar social conservative values.
AAP/Lukas Coch
While minor right-wing parties are advancing specific policy agendas, Australia’s major right-of-centre force appears to be grappling with internal divisions about its policy direction.
A day after moving to the crossbench, Cory Bernardi is feeling the heat. The media, former Liberal colleagues and South Australian voters all have a view on his defection.
Cory Bernardi speaks to the media after announcing he had quit the Liberal Party.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
Cory Bernardi says he aims to provide the many disillusioned conservative voters with ‘a principled, credible and stable alternative in which they can vest their vote’.
Cory Bernardi leaves the Senate after quitting the Liberal Party.
AAP/Mick Tsikas
When maverick Liberal National Party backbencher George Christensen opens his mouth it’s usually bad news for the government. But on Monday, his comments were a relief to it. Christensen said he would…