Cory Bernardi has welcomed Family First’s decision to amalgamate with his Australian Conservatives and called for “other minor parties and former colleagues” to join them – but One Nation has already rebuffed the call.
Launching the amalgamated party in Adelaide on Wednesday, Bernardi sought to explain away the decision of the federal senator Lucy Gichuhi not to join the Australian Conservatives, suggesting she may need more time to understand because she is new to politics.
The amalgamation boosts the Australian Conservatives by adding Family First’s two South Australian parliamentarians, Dennis Hood, and Robert Brokenshire, a former Liberal minister, to its ranks.
Bernardi said that the amalgamation was “an important step in uniting the Australian conservative movement”. “Together our movement will be stronger than if we go it alone.”
Bernardi said the party was founded on “principles not personalities” and stood for values including stronger families, “rebuilding civil society”, fostering free enterprise and limiting the scope of government.
“Whilst there is an amalgamation between Family First and Australian Conservatives, I hope it’s not the last amalgamation,” he said. “I welcome minor parties, I welcome former colleagues [and] existing colleagues, who want to be part of a team that really, genuinely wants to make politics different.”
One Nation’s federal leader, Pauline Hanson, has previously openly canvassed joining forces with Bernardi, telling 2GB in December that “if Cory wants to take over [One Nation] so be it but at the end of the day it has got to be on the issues that I want to fight for the people”.
A spokesman for Hanson told Guardian Australia that Bernardi’s invitation “[did not] apply to One Nation because it’s not a minor party”.
Asked if One Nation was still open to joining Australian Conservatives, the spokesman said “it’s a no”.
Hood, the new state leader of the Australian Conservatives, said that the state executives of Family First had unanimously endorsed the merger, claiming there was “no dissension” about the decision, despite the fact that Gichuhi does not currently plan to join them.
Gichuhi, the second South Australian Family First candidate at the 2016 election, won a special recount election on 13 April after the high court ruled that Bob Day was ineligible owing to an indirect pecuniary interest in an agreement with the commonwealth. She is due to be sworn in when parliament resumes in May.
Addressing Gicuhi’s absence on Wednesday, Bernardi said that negotiations to amalgamate the parties “commenced well prior to her appointment as a senator” and had only concluded in the last few weeks.
“Her appointment was a circumstance that none of us, not least of all Lucy herself, ever realistically anticipated,” he said. “For those of us who have been around politics for a long time, we can understand the consequences and implications of significant decisions like this.
“So we got our head around it very quickly but it’s much more difficult for those who are new to the political environment. And we wish Lucy well on her career.”
In a statement on Wednesday Gichuhi said she respected Family First’s decision to join the Australian Conservatives in an amalgamation she described as independent of the electoral and legal process that selected her.
“Given the circumstances and the time frames, I have not been able to determine if joining this new entity is the best way for me to serve the people of South Australia,” she said.
“It is on that basis that I have decided to serve as an independent senator for the time being.”
“I look forward to a positive working relationship with the government, opposition and cross-benchers.”
At a separate press conference on Wednesday the deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, said that he was not worried by the Australian Conservatives and noted Gichuhi does not plan to be a part of it.
“It’s not a good start – they form a new party and the first response you get is the new senator-elect who says she doesn’t want to be a part of it,” he said.
Guardian Australia contacted Gichuhi for comment.
