over the Racial Discrimination Act debate, especially 18C. In late December 2016, Bernardi held controversial meetings with members of the United States presidential campaign of Donald Trump, allegedly in preparation for forming a breakaway party after continued dissatisfaction with the party and its policies, While he refrained from commenting on renewed speculation that he would split, he was met with negative reception from fellow party colleagues, including former Prime Minister and Liberal leader Tony Abbott. Party foundation On 7 February 2017, Bernardi announced his resignation from the Liberals through a speech in the Senate, opting to advance the Australian Conservatives as a political party, and sit on the Senate crossbench as its leader. In his speech, Bernardi claimed that "the level of public disenchantment with the major parties, the lack of confidence in our political process and the concern about the direction of our nation is very, very strong," and rationalised the creation of the Conservatives as a political party with the "need to find a better way". Bernardi also cited the resurgence and rise of conservative parties such as Pauline Hanson's One Nation as proof of such. Although dissatisfaction with the leadership of the Coalition was still shared by many in Parliament, numerous members have since denied any intention to join the Australian Conservatives, with most of them strongly criticising Bernardi—some described his move as a "betrayal". Tony Pasin, in particular, described Bernardi's move as unsurprising, "given the way that conservatives from South Australia are treated by the leadership of the Liberals". On 7 April 2017, Kirralie Smith—a former candidate for the Australian Liberty Alliance and a member of the Q Society of Australia and Senate candidate for New South Wales in 2016—joined the party. The Australian Liberty Alliance discussed the prospect of merging with the Australian Conservatives, but ultimately declined the offer. Australian Conservatives was registered as a political party with the Australian Electoral Commission on 12 April 2017. Later that month, the party formed a Senate voting bloc with the Liberal Democratic Party Senator David Leyonhjelm. The party issued a policy release in April 2017 urging party members to petition major chocolate companies to oppose Easter Eggs being renamed Holiday Eggs. The release caused confusion on the grounds that there was no evidence any major chocolate company had ever done that in Australia, or that anyone had ever asked them to. In May 2017, Bernardi met the