Dennis Hood defected from the Australian Conservatives yesterday, insinuating that Cory Bernardi’s fledgling party is destined to make “no impact” in the South Australian political landscape.

The exit means the right wing party has lost one-third of its parliamentary representatives.

“ I am very disappointed in it, partially because I was blindsided,” said Mr Bernardi.

“ I was told about it via a text message from someone who was within the Liberal Party. I had to actually call Dennis about it and find out whether it was true.”

“We’re disappointed in the result but ultimately this is the outcome of it and I only wish Dennis well,” said the Senator.

When discussing why the Australian Conservatives only managed to accrue 3.5% of the state wide vote in South Australia’s state election,  Mr Bernardi suggested a lack of aggressive campaigning may be to blame.

“That was one of the disappointments of the election. We had a very persuasive policy mix around how to rebuild and revitalise South Australia’s economy.”

“But at the first sign of resistance, often the people charged with selling it backed away, which was disappointing.”

However, Mr Bernardi was adamant he would continue to  advocate for conservative values in the state.

“Pushing a policy agenda is really tough.”

“But ultimately, we can’t afford to neglect policy. We can’t afford to say government should get bigger and we should allow them to be making more decisions. Families and the individuals should be making decisions for themselves. We should be cutting taxes, we should be cutting bureaucracy, that’ll generate jobs.”

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