{"id":462276,"date":"2026-02-06T12:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462276\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T12:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T12:54:14","slug":"cory-bernardi-bats-away-former-prime-minister-john-howards-dismissal-of-his-liberal-defection-to-one-nation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/462276\/","title":{"rendered":"Cory Bernardi bats away former prime minister John Howard\u2019s dismissal of his Liberal defection to One Nation"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cory Bernardi has returned serve after former prime minister John Howard dismissed his prospects of being part of a \u201cserious political movement\u201d following his defection from the Liberal Party to join One Nation.<\/p>\n

In an exclusive interview with The Advertiser, Mr Howard said One Nation was not a \u201cserious political movement\u201d and \u201can accident of political history\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The former prime minister also said Mr Bernardi was \u201cdesperate for recognition\u201d.<\/p>\n

The World According To Rowan Dean is available to watch for SkyNews.com.au subscribers. To become a subscriber, click here.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think, to use the vernacular, he\u2019s going to trouble the scorers,\u201d Mr Howard said.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Sky News host Rowan Dean, Mr Bernardi batted away Mr Howard\u2019s remarks, calling the former prime minister a \u201clegend\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Howard I’ve known (for a while), he’s a legend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they seem to wheel him out when the death throes of the Liberal campaign (are) there.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe’s backed every liberal leadership person, every contender, he has backed every campaign, no matter how hopeless they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Bernardi said for someone of Mr Howards\u2019s stature to dismiss One Nation, which now represents a \u201cgreat swathe of votes out there\u201d, one question needed to be asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow did it get to this?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Liberal Party and the Labor parties were actually doing the right thing by the country, if they were enacting policies that people wanted, and if they’re actually making our lives better, well, maybe there wouldn’t be a need for One Nation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Pauline<\/p>\n

The former Liberal senator said the \u201cduopoly\u201d on politics, the \u201cuni-party\u201d, could not be saved as both of the main parties were taking Australia in the same direction.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s why One Nation, after three decades of warning people what was happening, what was going to come, after Pauline Hanson’s determination and her prescience I should say, the chickens are coming home to roost,\u201d Mr Bernardi said.<\/p>\n

Mr Howard also told The Advertiser that Mr Bernardi was a \u201cpleasant man to deal\u201d with, but called into question his rationale for joining forces with Pauline Hanson.<\/p>\n

\u201cMate, this is the behaviour of somebody who\u2019s desperate for recognition, not somebody who wants to seriously contribute to policy,\u201d Mr Howard said.<\/p>\n

Mr Bernardi addressed the former prime minister\u2019s slight against his \u201cbehaviour\u201d and claimed attention was the \u201cfurthest thing from my mind\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, Mr Howard to say that I’m seeking attention, well, mate, I’ve enjoyed more than my fair share of time in the spotlight, and that’s the furthest thing from my mind,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want is to actually fix some of the problems that are there, and I want to help train or support or build an army of people who are going to actually have a very strong voice for their state and for their country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Bernardi said if he spent the next four to six years mustering a large followership who aligned with One Nation\u2019s mission to make the country \u201cbetter off\u201d, he would happily fade into obscurity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI only wish Mr Howard would probably do the same about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cory Bernardi has returned serve after former prime minister John Howard dismissed his prospects of being part of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":462277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[234194,43,15388,44,60504,14754,171189,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-462276","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-cory-bernardi","9":"tag-headlines","10":"tag-john-howard","11":"tag-news","12":"tag-one-nation","13":"tag-pauline-hanson","14":"tag-rowan-dean","15":"tag-top-news","16":"tag-top-stories","17":"tag-topnews","18":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}