Party-Hopping Craig Kelly Takes Another Leap in Political Comeback

Craig Kelly, who’s been associated with Liberals, United Australia, One Nation and ran as an independent, has made another leap, this time to the Libertarians.

Member for Hughes Craig Kelly looks on during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Feb. 2, 2021. Sam Mooy/Getty Images

After last working closely with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson, leading to speculation that he'd be on that party’s ticket in next year’s federal election, former politician Craig Kelly has announced he will stand for the Libertarian Party in the Senate.

“I have the greatest respect for Pauline Hanson and everything she has done in Australian politics, and I wish her all the best, but the Libertarian Party is now who I will be working with,” Kelly said on 2GB, where he announced his latest incarnation.

His relationship with One Nation had been on “a contract basis for a small period of time,” he said.

He denied there had been a falling-out between the two, saying he'd chosen to make his fourth political home with the Libertarians because he believed in “smaller government and entrepreneurial endeavours.”

“Just look at the last couple of weeks. We saw in the Senate 30 bills pushed through [in] one sitting. That’s not what the Senate is for. It is meant to be a house of review of our government. We need better government in this country, and I’m determined to try and get back into that federal parliament,” he said.

He was particularly concerned about changes to online access, which he said amounted to “handing enormous power to the eSafety Commissioner.”

“Are you going to have to put your digital ID, your biometric digital ID, to log on to your account, or your account [will] be cancelled?” he said.

“These are questions we don’t know, and yet the Liberal Party joined hands with the Labor and pushed that through.”

‘Future PM’ Prediction Didn’t Come to Pass

Kelly was first elected in 2010 as the Liberal MP for the New South Wales (NSW) seat of Hughes.

In 2021, he defected to sit on the crossbench as an independent and eventually joined billionaire Clive Palmer’s United Australia Party (UAP). However, he failed to win his electorate under the UAP during the 2022 federal election.

In 2023, he reverted to being an independent and stood in the NSW election but again was unsuccessful.

Earlier this year, he joined One Nation as federal campaign director before quitting to join the Libertarian Party.

Despite the latest change, he said Hanson was “a wonderful lady. She’s done an enormous, fantastic job for this country.”

In common with other politicians who’ve changed parties, Kelly claimed his values hadn’t changed, but rather those of each of his former parties.

“Get the government out of the way, get the government out of their hands. That’s what the Libertarian Party stands for,” he said.

“Unfortunately, the Liberal Party that I used to be a member of, appears to have abandoned all those values.”

He left the Liberal Party in 2021 due to disagreements with the party’s decisions around COVID-19 policies.

That year, he also spammed many Australian voters by sending text messages to their mobile phones, triggering thousands of complaints to the Australian Communications and Media Authority. He was not prosecution because Australia’s anti-spam law applies only to commercial messaging and specifically exempts political communications.