Cory Bernardi is keeping some very interesting company and it should worry the Liberal Party.
A report on Thursday, about the Adelaide-based senator's trip to the Emerald City to dine with avowed monarchist David Flint, John Ruddick and Walter Villatora is a clear threat to the New South Wales Liberal Party, which is locked in a never-ending civil war between its conservative and moderate factions.
![Cory Bernardi lunches at China Doll in Sydney on Thursday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170602024713im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/i/1/f/d/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwimqd.png/1496356655002.jpg)
Villatora is an ally of Tony Abbott's and the pair have been driving a reform motion for the party to enable members to have a say in determining the candidates who run for a parliament. This is a privilege members of the other divisions of the Liberal Party around the country enjoy.
The "one member, one vote" plan is commonly called the Warringah motion after Tony Abbott's electorate in Sydney's north.  Democracy right? How could you complain about that? From the moderates' standpoint, the motion is nothing more than an attack on their domination of the NSW branch and subsequent sway in determining the mix of delegates who currently decide preselections. And they believe that if the hard-right of the party were to dominate, it would result in unappealing candidates, out of step with centrist Australia, being put forward.Â
Abbott was once the face of the campaign but has conspicuously taken a back seat in recent months, largely because everything he does and says is inevitably perceived as part of his leadership feud with Malcolm Turnbull.
Abbott, once a close friend of Bernardi's, was from the outset critical of his defection to create his own conservative movement.
Bernardi made what he now tells friends was a mistake to confide his thoughts about leaving the party to Abbott late last year. Suddenly, his private musings were published in News Corp's The Australian. Abbott denies leaking. The former prime minister did however, write an opinion piece for the same paper, warning that Bernardi's defection could be highly successful at the expense of the Liberal Party.
Abbott is being proven right.
![Tony Abbott has been critical of Cory Bernardi's defection to create his own conservative movement.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170602024713im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/1/a/o/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwimqd.png/1496356655002.jpg)
Australian Conservatives has recently absorbed Family First and gained two MPs in the South Australian Parliament. Party membership is growing at a rate about 40 per day according to sources close to the senator.Â
Internal critics of the NSW division claim membership is as low as six thousand with the party haemorrhaging supporters since the 2015 switch from Abbott to Turnbull, but this is disputed, with one senior figure telling Fairfax Media the membership is higher at 10,500.
![David Flint (left) dined with Bernardi on Thursday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170602024713im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/i/1/f/e/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwimqd.png/1496356655002.jpg)
On that basis, Bernardi's movement still has some way to go but all the signs suggest he is making steady progress for a party that is just five months old.
By contrast the old "broad church" party is a place where people like Villatora, Ruddick and Flint feel increasingly isolated – indeed Ruddick recently quit the Liberals.
![Walter Villatora has lunch with Cory Bernardi on Thursday.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170602024713im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/i/1/f/h/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwimqd.png/1496356655002.jpg)
So their very public lunch with Bernardi is clearly a threat to their own side: back our reform motion or we defect and take with us who knows how many others.  Also notable is Tony Abbott's absence – even the former PM's staunchest allies are preparing for life without him, an admission that they do not live in hope for his reinstatement to the prime ministership.
After dining, Bernardi was making hay about the fact that the Liberal Party is going to charge members $200 to come and debate the motion at its July conference.
"You can pay your membership and $200 or you can join the Conservatives for $25 and enjoy full participation rights," he told the media gathered at Woolloomooloo wharf.
The Warringah motion has already been kicked down the road, the conservatives fear that they'll be fobbed off again.  But this time, they'll have a revenge plan ready. However if they do say goodbye to the party, it may very well be a case of "good riddance," rather than "please don't go," from those who remain.
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