Former Nick Xenophon MP John Darley has vowed to serve his full term in South Australia's upper house after quitting the popular senator's party in a stoush over voting reforms.
Mr Darley quit on Thursday, a day before a scheduled meeting of the organisation to consider his expulsion for breaching party rules.
The crunch came when he recently sided with the Labor government to back reforms to voting for the upper house which could make it more difficult for minor party and independent candidates to get elected.
He said he did not regret his decision and believed it was a case of accepting the government's proposals "or get nothing" in the way of voting reforms.
"In the best interests of South Australia, I voted for the Labor Party amendment," Mr Darley told AAP on Thursday.
He said he tried to talk to Senator Xenophon about the vote but received no reply to his six calls.
But Senator Xenophon said Mr Darley's resignation had simply averted his expulsion on Friday.
"I wish him well," he said in a tweet.
The senator said Mr Darley should also "do the right thing" and quit the parliament.
"A lot of South Australians voted for him because of my endorsement and he ran as the independent Nick Xenophon Team candidate," Senator Xenophon told News Corp.
"I worked very hard to get him elected. Now that he's no longer a team player he needs to step down from the Parliament."
Mr Darley entered the SA upper house in 2007 to fill a vacancy created when Senator Xenophon shifted from state to federal politics.
He was returned in the 2014 election as the top candidate on the Nick Xenophon Team ticket and is not due for re-election again until 2022.
He said he intended to serve until then as an independent and his new status would not change anything in regard to how he might vote on other issues, including his opposition to the state government's controversial bank tax.
