South Australian upper house MP Dennis Hood says he's not taken the lazy way out by leaving the Australian Conservatives to join the new Liberal state government.
Mr Hood announced his decision to jump ship on Monday, after first having talks with the government last week.
He says his decision is an "acceptance of the reality".
"We have a new government. A government I want to be part of because I like the policy agenda," Mr Hood said.
"It's a matter of moving forward."
Australian Conservatives founder Cory Bernardi says he's shocked and disappointed by Mr Hood's decision.
But Senator Bernardi says his party will fight on.
"When I started this party, it was about putting principles ahead of personalities, it was about putting policy ahead of politics and that is more important than ever," he said.
"The reality is we have just had an election and we haven't had the result we wanted to achieve, and I guess Dennis thought he could achieve the results he wants by joining the Liberal party."
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