A company owned by outspoken Liberal South Australian Senator Cory Bernardi and his wife Sinead bought a 1 million-dollar property in Adelaide last year which now serves as the headquarters for his Conservative Leadership Foundation.
The foundation has since spawned the Australian Conservatives movement which Senator Bernardi launched last month after the electoral thrashing received by Malcolm Turnbull's government at the July 2 poll.
Senator Bernardi has branded the election result a "disaster" and says his new movement will unite conservatives – no matter what their party – to ensure "our voice is never taken for granted again". On August 1 he announced 50,000 people had registered.
The Australian Conservatives' web page links to the Conservative Leadership Foundation, an earlier initiative set up by Senator Bernardi in 2009. The CLF site invites donations to develop "Australia's future business, political and community leaders".
Both the CLF and the Australian Conservatives appear to share headquarters at 28 King William Street, at Kent Town in Adelaide, a building now known as CLF House. The premises were bought by Twenty-Eight KW Pty Ltd, a company owned by the senator and his Irish-born wife, on February 20 last year, according to property records. Last month a mortgage of $750,000 was registered against the property.
Senator Bernardi's parliamentary pecuniary interests register was updated in February last year to record his interest in Twenty-eight KW Pty Ltd and through a spokeswoman he told Fairfax his declaration of interests was " perfectly in order". He declined to answer questions about the funding of the company's property purchase.
"Your questions are not related to the senator's parliamentary responsibilities and he has no intention of discussing any non-parliamentary matters with you," his spokeswoman said.
