TONY Abbott has weighed in on Cory Bernardi’s recent expansion of his fledgling political party, after it merged with Family First.

Mr abbott told 2GB today that the last thing the Coalition needed was more “fringe parties on the right”.

He said he wanted to see a “united” party.

“The last thing we really need is more fringe parties on the right,” he said.

“We need a strong and united Liberal party.

“I want the Liberal party to be worth voting for.”

His comments come after Mr Bernardi has been expanding his fledgling political party of one by merging with Family First.

Sky News reported that Australian Conservatives, which Mr Bernardi launched after quitting the government’s ranks earlier this year, will absorb Family First.

The claim emerged on commentator Paul Murray’s show Paul Murray Live, which he described as a “political earthquake”.

Members of Family First in South Australia’s parliament will become Australian Conservative members, he reported.

They are Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire, who were elected to the state’s upper house in 2006 and 2008 respectively.

However Lucy Gichuhi, who scored a Senate seat in place of Bob Day, will not move. Instead, she will arrive in Canberra as an independent, Sky News reported.

Peta Credlin, who was chief of staff to former prime minister Tony Abbott, said the merge was “absolutely expected”.

It would give Mr Bernardi “the infrastructure he’ll need to be able to grow his brand”, Ms Credlin said.

A membership base and financial benefits will also boost the Australian Conservatives in the lead up to the next state and federal elections.

South Australia is due to go to the polls in less than a year. Mr Bernardi has flagged his intention to run a number of candidates in the state’s Upper House.

The Australian newspaper reports that a statement will be made on Wednesday announcing the political union.

Family First’s executives voted to dissolve the party and amalgamate with Australian Conservatives on Saturday, it reported.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, who was a guest on Paul Murray Live when the news broke, said it was “inevitable”.

“When Bob Day exited the party, it was the case where the writing was on the wall,” Mr Dutton said.

“From the governments perspective, we will continue to work with minor parties and independents. We will work with them hopefully in a bid to get the budget back in balance.”</s>Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives to amalgamate with Family First

The Australian Conservatives party, represented in the Senate by Cory Bernardi, will amalgamate with the Family First Party, the ABC understands.

Family First has two representatives in the South Australian Parliament who will become Australian Conservatives instead.

But the ABC understands newly elected Family First senator Lucy Gichuhi will not be part of the merged party.

Earlier this year, Senator Bernardi quit the Liberal Party to set up the Australian Conservatives party.

The decision to amalgamate the two parties means a significant consolidation of the conservative movement nationally.

It is understood to have been ratified by executives from Family First who have resolved not to keep the party going at state or federal level and to instead join with Senator Bernardi's new party.

When Family First is wound up, the party's resources will go to the Australian Conservatives.

Senator Bernardi is the federal parliamentary leader of the Australian Conservatives.

In South Australia, Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire, who are both members of the State Upper House, will switch from Family First to representing the Australian Conservatives.

Immigration Minister Peter Dutton said the amalgamation was a natural fit.

"My sense is that it was inevitable," he told Sky News.

Mr Day's election to the Senate at last year's poll was ruled invalid by the High Court after it was found a property he owned had been leased to the Commonwealth, contrary to law.

Mr Dutton said the merged group would mainly have influence in South Australia, comparing it to One Nation's strength in Queensland.

"You're seeing most of these movements contained within state boundaries," he said.

He said the Government would continue to work with crossbenchers regardless of their party allegiances.</s>THE Australian Conservatives party, founded by South Australian senator Cory Bernardi, is set to merge with the long-running Family First party.

The move represents a consolidation of the far-right of Australian politics that will likely allow anti-marriage equality advocates to present a more united, and no doubt very loud, political front.

Bernardi is notorious for comparing same-sex marriage to bestiality, as well as being one of the most vocal opponents of the Safe Schools program in Australian politics.

Australian Conservatives’ absorption of Family First is expected to consolidate its base of power in South Australia with state upper house members Dennis Hood and Robert Brokenshire switching allegiances from Family First to Australian Conservatives.

The merger follows the High Court ruling that Family First senator Bob Day’s election to the Senate in 2016 was invalid, which was said to damage the Family First brand.

Day’s replacement, Lucy Gichuhi, will not go on to represent the Australian Conservatives and is expected to now represent South Australia as an Independent.

In 2016, Family First candidate for the senate in Tasmania Peter Madden came under fire for linking the Orlando Pulse nightclub massacre to “the real & present dangers of the gay marriage agenda to [Australian] children”.

Madden also campaigned with a trailer that stated “homosexual marriage = gay sex-ed for children”.

Family First states unequivocally on its website that the party believes “that marriage at its essence and by definition is between a man and a woman to the exclusion of others for life.”

Family First founder, Pentecostal paster Andrew Evans, told the ABC, “It’s just crazy to divide all the time, so we felt let’s [get] the conservatives [to] unite and make an impact and let them know our values and see if we can have some impact across the nation.”

Pauline Hanson, the other major far-right voice in Australian politics, has declined Bernardi’s suggestion that One Nation could also amalgamate with Australian Conservatives through a spokesperson.</s>Family First is no longer a political party after being taken over by the Australian Conservatives.

Leader Cory Bernardi says the two parties are a "natural fit" politically, but the merger doesn't include everyone from the now defunct party.

Newly minted Senator Lucy Gichuhi is not joining the ranks of the Australian Conservatives.

Instead, the fledgling party will gain two former Family First MPs as representatives in the South Australian state parliament.</s>Right-wing senator Cory Bernardi's Australian Conservatives party is amalgamating with Family First.

The outspoken senator left the Liberal Party in February after nine years with the party in federal parliament.

However, only two weeks after formally becoming an Australian Conservatives senator he has announced his party is merging with Family First.

Senator Bernardi has refuted a suggestion from senior Turnbull government minister Christopher Pyne that the Australian Conservatives party was struggling to attract support.

Mr Pyne comes from the Liberal Party in South Australia, which Senator Bernardi was a member of for 30 years.

'If there was no threat to Christopher Pyne, he wouldn't be making any comments whatsoever,' Senator Bernardi told ABC 7.30 host Leigh Sales on Wednesday.

'Within these sort of troublemakers or power brokers, as they like to style themselves within the Liberal Party, they're responsible for the dysfunction that's there for the disillusionment by the public because people like Christopher Pyne don't stand for anything.'

In the same interview, Senator Bernardi had to awkwardly explain why new a Family First lawmaker born in Kenya didn't join his party.

His party merger plans were thrown into disarray in federal parliament after new South Australian senator Lucy Gichuhi announced she would sit as an independent rather than as a member of the merged conservative parties.

Senator Bernardi said Senator Gichuhi, a 54-year-old lawyer who migrated to Australia in 1999, was new to parliament.

'Lucy was chosen or sworn in as a senator only recently and I know what it’s like to be a new senator even with the support of a party,' he said.

'It’s a very challenging environment. You got to get your head around a lot and Lucy's made a lot of decisions this week and she wasn't prepared or able to make a decision in respect to this merger at this time but I noticed she left the door open today.'

Senator Gichuhi was this month appointed as a senator after the High Court ruled that former Family First senator Bob Day's election to parliament in 2016 was invalid because he rented office space which he owned.

Australia's most senior judges ruled that he had breached Section 44 (5) of the constitution, which bans federal members of parliament from having a financial contract with the Commonwealth.

Mr Day quit as a senator in October after his Home Australia building company, based in Adelaide, collapsed.

This, in itself, would have made him ineligible to sit in parliament as a bankrupt.

On Wednesday, Senator Gichuhi left Family First to become an independent legislator.

She was the second name on the Family First Senate ticket in South Australia at last year's federal double dissolution election.</s>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 apparent 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 plan to join them.

Gichuhi, the second South Australian Family First candidate at the 2016 election, won a special recount election 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”.

“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.”

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.</s>Cory Bernardi unwilling to wait for Lucy Gichuhi to 'get her head around' things

Conservative senator Cory Bernardi has been planning to merge his political party with Family First for months, but was unwilling to wait for newly elected senator Lucy Gichuhi to decide whether to join him.

The Australian Conservatives party will amalgamate with Family First, acquiring two representatives in the South Australian Parliament.

But Senator Gichuhi will not join the merged party, which means Senator Bernardi will be the Australian Conservatives' only representative in the Upper House in Canberra.

Senator Gichuhi replaced former Family First senator Bob Day in Parliament after a court found she was validly elected earlier this month.

The merger represents a consolidation of the conservative movement and Senator Bernardi said he would welcome potential defectors from other parties.

"We will invite anyone into the tent who wants to come in," Senator Bernardi said.

Family First will now disband with its resources to be transferred to the Australian Conservatives.

Senator Bernardi said he had been friends with South Australian Family First MP Dennis Hood for many years.

He thanked him for support when former Liberal colleagues "found the going too tough".

Gichuhi an independent, for now

Senator Gichuhi has confirmed she will serve as an independent senator "for the time being".

"While I respect the decision of Family First to join with the Australian Conservatives, given the circumstances and the time frame, 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 in a statement.

"I am aware that this issue was being discussed and considered independently of the electoral and legal process that has seen me elected last week as senator of South Australia."

Senator Bernardi said Senator Gichuhi had "a lot to get her head around" and was unwilling to delay the merger while she considered her future.

"I'm not in the habit of pressuring anybody to make decision, particularly ones that advantage me," he said.

Senator Bernardi wished Senator Gichuhi well and said he would be willing to assist her transition to federal politics.

"Her appointment was a circumstance that none of us, not least of all Lucy herself, ever really anticipated," he said.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne said he did not expect the merger would "trouble the scoreboard very dramatically".

"What it indicates is that neither party have had the support that they need to continue on their own," Mr Pyne told Adelaide radio station 5AA.

"The one person they managed to elect to the Australian Senate in South Australia has jumped ship already," he said.

Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the merger was flawed and had "fallen apart" before it even got off the ground.

Labor MP Anthony Albanese said the merger would not deliver results in the Senate.

"It's a pretty remarkable effort when you have Family First with one senator, Cory Bernardi, pretending he has a party but with one senator, and the two amalgamate and 1 + 1 = 1," Mr Albanese said.

Labor senator Penny Wong said the merger appeared to be a case of right-wing senators flexing their muscles.

South Australian senator Nick Xenophon said it would be tough for Senator Gichuhi to operate without the support of party, but indicated he would help her learn Senate procedures.
Two political parties with federal representation in Australia merge as the Australian Conservatives absorbs the Family First Party.