It's been seven months since South Australian Liberal Senator Cory Bernardi formed his 'Australian Conservatives' movement.
And now, it looks like he wants to take it to the next level.
Senator Bernardi is believed to be planning to defect from the Liberal party imminently, even though his office would not confirm when contacted by SBS News.
Education Minister Simon Birmingham says he expects his colleague to stand by the party.
"I believe and I'm confident that Cory is someone of his word, and his words have been very clearly that he believes we are stronger united."
Mr Bernardi has not spoken to the media.
But his conservative allies have been questioned over who might join his breakway group.
Tasmanian Senator Eric Abetz wrote on Facebook that he remained committed to the Liberal Party.
Outspoken Nationals M-P George Christensen says he has not been approached, and remains loyal to the Coalition.
"No look I haven't been approached by Cory to join him and I'm not sure what Cory is doing as yet, we'll see what happens over the next 48 hours."
But Mr Christensen is warning the Coalition does need to embrace more conservative values.
"The message from the rank and file and the base has been one that's disgruntled, to say the least. We need to reconnect with our core constituency and with the people at large. And I think that there's moves afoot to do that. So I really do hope that we succeed in doing that, because if we drift away any further it's going to become untenable."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says internal Coalition politicking is a distraction from the issues voters care about.
"Labor and the people of Australia don't care what goes on down the hallway. Whether or not Cory Bernardi stays or goes, whether or not Malcolm goes, whether or not Tony comes back, or Julie Bishop finally gets a run. That isn't what's going to help people be able to pay for their first house, it doesn't help people find a job or keep a job."
There's been more bad news for the Coalition in the latest Newspoll - the first of the year.
It shows that while Malcolm Turnbull is retaining his lead over Bill Shorten as better Prime Minister, the Coalition is trailing Labor 46 to 54 on a two-party preferred basis.
Most of the Coalition's lost ground appears to have gone to the minor parties - particularly One Nation.
Speaking on Radio 2GB, Treasurer Scott Morrison says the federal government needs to work on promoting it's centre-right agenda.
"What we see here is that support for non-major parties which is a challenge to mainstream politics and I think that the challenge for the government is to demonstrate, particularly as we go over the course of this year and we lead up to the budget, that mainstream politics, a mainstream government, a centrist government, a centre-right government in the Turnbull government, can deal with the issues that are most concerning."
Parliament resumes sitting for the first time this year on February 7th.
It's believed Senator Bernardi will make a public statement in the next 24 hours.
