Controversial MP Craig Kelly has quit the Liberal Party
Outspoken MP Craig Kelly has quit the Liberal Party and will join the crossbench after a well publicised stoush with the PM.
Liberal MP Craig Kelly has quit the party and will sit on the cross bench.
The controversial MP handed his resignation letter to Prime Minister Scott Morrison during today’s party room meeting.
Mr Kelly’s decision means the government loses its one-seat majority on the floor of the House of Representatives, but he is guaranteeing confidence and supply which means in theory he won’t trigger an early election.
But he confirmed his move to the crossbench was a result of his disagreement with the Prime Minister over alternative COVID treatments.
“I have the greatest respect for Scott Morrison,” he told Sky News.
“I hope he goes on to be one of our longest serving and greatest Prime Ministers.
“I’ll support the government, naturally of course, on all matters of supply, confidence.”
Mr Kelly said it was rubbish to suggest he was anti-vaccination.
“I’ve been labelled an anti-vaxxer which is just slanderous smear,” he said.
But Mr Kelly could end up switching parties to the Nationals after the former leader Barnaby Joyce ducked out of the joint Coalition partyroom to chase Mr Kelly after his announcement.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan told news.com.au that he had urged Mr Kelly to join the Nationals.
“I did say to him that I had always wanted him to join,” Senator Canavan said.
“I am absolutely serious.”
As Mr Kelly remained locked in his office, One Nation Senator Malcolm Roberts also turned up to speak to him but was unable to enter the office as the ex-Liberal was conducting a television interview.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged the government will “continue to function” after Mr Kelly’s shock decision to sit on the crossbench.
The big move leaves the Morrison Government with 76 seats in the 151-seat Parliament but it has just 75 seats after taking into account the Speaker Tony Smith who traditionally doesn’t vote.
The Speaker can deliver a casting vote on a deadlocked vote but this has rarely been required in the past.
It practice, it means that to pass legislation the Morrison Government will need Mr Kelly or another crossbencher to support the government’s legislative agenda or Mr Smith to cast a vote in the event of a deadlocked vote.
“The government will continue to function, as it has successfully,’’ the PM said.
“As the government has led Australia through the worst situation we’ve seen since the Second World War, we will continue to do so undistracted and we’ll be able to do so with the support of the parliament from the very undertakings that the member for Hughes has indicated publicly.”
Mr Morrison confirmed he had set out clear expectations on a range of matters that he expected Mr Kelly to follow, but that he ultimately could not.
His concerns include a staff member in Mr Kelly’s office who is under police investigation amid allegations of inappropriate work conduct.
“I have long expressed to Mr Kelly my concerns about that staff member and he has long understood what my expectations were about how he would deal with that matter,’’ the Prime Minister said.
Mr Kelly was suspended from Facebook last week after he shared a series of COVID-related posts to his official MP Facebook page, which has more than 80,000 followers.
https://www.news.com.au/national/politics/controversial-mp-craig-kelly-has-quit-the-liberal-party/news-story/5887b5e89b318ab9a46472ff25317084
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