Former Liberal senator Cory Bernardi says he is open to the idea of returning to the party in the wake of Scott Morrison's re-election.
The South Australian senator left the Liberals in February 2017 to form the Australian Conservatives.
Having been re-elected as a Liberal in 2016 his term still has three years to run.
Senator Bernardi told Sky News on Tuesday he was open to discussing a return to the Liberals with the prime minister but would not be compromising himself.
"I've said no to that because I'm over party politics but I do consider myself to be a traditionalist Liberal," he said.
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"I do think Scott Morrison has claimed a lot of the territory that was very fertile for the Australian Conservatives. He's a man of faith, he's a relentless campaigner.
"In the last month or so I have been openly thinking and canvassing what my role will be in politics. I still enjoy it; I do like it very much.
"I do want to see this government succeed so I'll think about how best I can do that.''
While the Senate count has not been finalised, it appears the Liberal-National coalition will need four crossbenchers, Labor or the Greens to get any bills through the upper house.
If Senator Bernardi was to re-join the Liberals this would be reduced to only three crossbench votes.
Apart from Senator Bernardi, the new Senate is likely to comprise 35 coalition members, 26 Labor, nine Greens, two One Nation, two Centre Alliance and Tasmanian independent Jacqui Lambie.
The Australian Conservatives lost both of their SA Legislative Council representatives in 2018 and won only 0.5 per cent of the vote in the 2019 NSW state election.
