"Pray. Pray hard."
That was Barnaby Joyce's pithy advice to Cory Bernardi, the latest in a long but no-so-illustrious line of Australian political turncoats.
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Cory Bernardi: Why I quit
Just minutes after publicly quitting the Liberal Party, the Senator reveals why he had to do it.
While Bernardi hopes to build a new nationwide conservative movement, modern political history suggests his decision is more likely to end in tears.
Here are nine examples of relatively recent federal defections resulting in disappointment, defeat or disgrace.
Ian Macfarlane
The Queenslander defected from the Liberals after Malcolm Turnbull removed him from the ministry shortly after coming to power in 2015. His plan was to join the Nationals and continue his parliamentary career, and possibly even find his way back on to the frontbench. But the Queensland LNP intervened to block the move, leading to Macfarlane's decision to quit politics.
Ian Macfarlane. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen
Julian McGauran
The Victorian senator did the reverse of Macfarlane, quitting the Nationals to join the Liberals. He said he was doing it because it would let him better represent his constituents and there were no significant policy differences between the two parties any way. In reality, he was maneuvering to keep a winnable spot on the Coalition Senate ticket, which he did - but then lost to a minor party.
Julian McGauran. Photo: AAP
Peter Slipper
The Queenslander quit the Liberals to take up the Speaker's chair in 2011, giving Julia Gillard a much-needed fillip in the finely-balanced minority Parliament. But it didn't last. Six months later, he was forced to stand aside over travel rorts and a few months after that he resigned amid sexual harassment allegations. He stood as an independent at the 2013 election but lost.
Peter Slipper. Photo: Andrew Meares
Mal Colston
The Queensland did a similar deal to Slipper: he quit Labor to sit as an independent after John Howard's government promised to hand him the coveted position of Deputy President of the Senate. And much like Slipper, he was undone by travel rorts. He was charged with defrauding the Commonwealth in 1997 but never actually stood trial because he was suffering from terminal cancer.
Mal Colston. Photo: Mike Bowers
Shayne Murphy
The Tasmanian was another Labor senator who quit to sit as an independent, citing his opposition to the ALP's policy on logging. His decision gave him a high-profile balance-of-power position on the crossbench - and he often voted with his former Coalition foes. But like most defectors, he just couldn't hold on to his seat, losing his spot at the 2004 election.
Shayne Murphy. Photo: Paul Harris
Cheryl Kernot
The former Democrats leader gave us one of the most spectacular defections of all time, quitting after seven years in the top job to join Labor. It didn't go terribly well and while she won the lower house seat of Dickson in 1998, she lost it in 2001. But that wasn't the end of the drama: a year later it emerged she had had a long affair with Labor's Gareth Evans, who helped engineer her switch.
Cheryl Kernot with Gareth Evans. Photo: The West Australian
Meg Lees
Another Democrat leader to depart. She was the leader of the party who controversially helped John Howard introduce a GST. She subsequently lost the party's leadership and quit to sit as an independent. Much like Cory Bernardi, she had grands plans to start a new movement, forming the Australian Progressive Alliance in 2003. It was a fizzer and Lees lost her spot in Parliament a year later.
Meg Lees. Photo: Graham Tidy
Tony Windsor and Rob Oakeshott
The duo both defected twice, in a sense. Both belonged to the Nationals before becoming independents at a state level. But it was their mutual decision to support Gillard's Labor in 2010 that was their undoing: their conservative electors saw it as a betrayal of their values and of their independence. Both men resigned rather than face their wrath - both attempted comebacks but failed.
Rob Oakeshott and Tony Windsor. Photo: Andrew Meares
Rod Culleton
The embattled West Australian is the most recent defection on this list, quitting One Nation just five months into his job. A few weeks later, his job evaporated altogether when he was declared bankrupt. If he had stayed in the One Nation stable, the party probably would have found a way to look after him. But his spectacular falling-out with Pauline Hanson means he has got nothing but debt.
