Cory Bernardi has fired a parting shot at his former conservative colleagues, including Tony Abbott, declaring he was being used in a “proxy war” against Malcolm Turnbull in the build-up to his departure from the Liberal party.
In an interview with Guardian Australia’s Politics Live podcast, Bernardi said he did not want his split from the Liberal party to be any sort of trigger point for the destabilisation of Turnbull’s prime ministership by his conservative opponents.
Bernardi said he had opposed moves to remove Abbott as prime minister in 2015, and despite his significant philosophical differences with Malcolm Turnbull, any move against him would be wrong too.
Acknowledging that some conservatives were intent on using his departure as fresh material to weaken Turnbull, Bernardi said categorically he did not want his defection to be used for political purposes.
“It’s the principle,” Bernardi said on Tuesday night. “You have an elected prime minister, and they are getting rolled because of the polls, or because of poor decisions. They are collective decisions of the cabinet. They are collective decisions of the party room, and they are hurt and they are terrible, but you’ve got to be prepared to fight.
“It is the principle for me in that entire thing.”
“And where I resented some of the things you have suggested [about positioning by conservatives] is I was being used in a proxy war, and in my dealings with the [press] gallery over the last 12 months, I have made it abundantly clear, I am not involved in this – I am not doing anyone else’s bidding.”
“If I am the rebel Senator ... it is not because I am carrying a torch for anyone else. I don’t want to see a change of leadership, it’s always been about the policy.”
Abbott’s office has been contacted for comment.
Bernardi’s comments about the Coalition’s corrosive internals come after his statement to the Senate on Tuesday confirming his attention to resign from the Liberal party and start a new conservative political movement.
Former colleagues rounded on the South Australian over the course of Tuesday, arguing it was a complete betrayal of the voters of South Australia to stand for election as a Liberal Senator for a six year term, only to quit the party just over six months in.
Bernardi told Guardian Australia on Tuesday evening he had been inspired to launch his own insurgency after watching Donald Trump’s successful grassroots campaign in the United States, but he said he had no interest in importing Trump’s political tactics into the Australian landscape, such as decrying coverage he didn’t approve of as “fake news”, or trying to muddy up facts.
He also suggested he could compete with One Nation successfully for the conservative vote, and many conservative leaning people looking for a political alternative would be reassured by his long history within the Liberal party.
In the interview, Bernardi shrugged off an apparent lack of interest from his close friend, the mining magnate Gina Rinehart, in bankrolling his new political movement.
Bernardi said he was looking to fund his organisation through many small donations from activists prepared to sign on to Australian Conservatives, which he was prepared to disclose in real time.
He said the sustainability of a political organisation “is driven by memberships and the grass roots.”
“If I can get thousands upon thousands of people contributing modest amounts of money … historically that’s been the strength for my political fundraising,” Bernardi said.
“I’ve tried to build relationships with people over a very long period of time. I have a weekly blog that goes out. Some of those people will be disappointed [about what I’ve done] but there will be tens of thousands of people who will celebrate this decision – and they are very supportive of me because I’ve become their voice in the parliament.”
“I know who they are, I’ve established a relationship. I can take the temperature of a great many conservatives in the nation very, very quickly.”
He also signalled his donations above the disclosure threshold would be revealed publicly continuously, “within 24 hours, rather than waiting 12 months for the legal requirement.
“I don’t know why people want to hide this.”
