Retired independent MP Tony Windsor has launched an extraordinary spray, daring Cory Bernardi to quit the Liberal Party while urging Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to "piss" and kick the outspoken senator out of the party or "get off the potty."
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And Fairfax Media can reveal the Queensland Nationals MP George Christensen is considering his own future over the festive season.
Speculation is rife that Liberal Senator Bernardi is preparing to defect, despite the conservative South Australian dismissing suggestions for months of a breakaway.
Senator Bernardi could not be reached late Wednesday and has told friends he plans to keep a low profile over the Christmas and New Year break. Late last month he said witnessing the election of political maverick and outsider Donald Trump to the US presidency had been an epiphany.
He wrote at the time that he had realised he wanted to be a "catalyst for change" in Australian politics but did not specify how. This week a major study of the Australian mood found Australians' satisfaction with democracy has collapsed to its lowest level since the dismissal of the Whitlam government in the 1970s.
One MP close to the conservative senator said they believed he had already made up his mind and would split from the Liberals.
The MP said Senator Bernardi believed the Liberal government was in a no-win situation and could not be turned around.
Fairfax Media first reported Senator Bernadi was considering a breakaway movement back in July, while on Thursday News Corp reported Senator Bernardi was "on the brink" of quitting.
The then prime minister Tony Abbott with George Christensen in Parliament House, 2014. Photo: Andrew Meares
Fairfax Media understands Mr Christensen is another Coalition MP considering his future. When contacted late on Wednesday the MP said: "I am loyal to Barnaby, loyal to the Nationals, and loyal to local LNP members."
But in an ominous sign for the future of the Coalition, he warned: "But the Turnbull government needs to start being more loyal to the voters who sent us here or there will come a time when remaining inside the tent is no longer tenable to my conscience or my voters."
Retired MP Tony Windsor. Photo: James Brickwood
Mr Windsor said he was sick of the constant speculation surrounding Senator Bernardi and urged him to do the Liberal Party a favour by leaving.
"Malcolm Turnbull should pull on these idiots. What's the point of being Prime Minister?" Mr Windsor said.
"Bernardi should do us all a favour and get on with it and Malcolm should either piss or get off the potty."
And in a reference to former prime minister Tony Abbott's verbal gaffe, when he referred to no one being the "suppository of all wisdom", Mr Windsor labelled both Senator Bernardi and Mr Christensen as "suppositories".
"Bernardi and the other suppositories are lemming leaders not leaders of a nation in a time of need," he said.
Mr Windsor said he believed Mr Christensen was trying to recapture lost ground by parroting what One Nation voters wanted to hear.
