For the second year in a row, Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer has ended the parliamentary year with a decision on the floor of Parliament that cast doubt over her party's policies and landed her in the national headlines.
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Last year, she abstained from a vote on a proposal to extend the cashless welfare card into other parts of the country. It passed by just one vote and despite being amended in the Senate, she copped heavy criticism on social media.
Then last week, Ms Archer voted for a motion to bring on debate on Indi independent Helen Haines' anti-corruption model, taking the government by surprise. This time, her move was met with widespread adulation.
Immediately after, Prime Minister Scott Morrison called her into a meeting with Treasurer Josh Frydenberg and Foreign Minister Marise Payne. The story has since taken on a life of its own, including claims from others that she was being over-powered and bullied.
Ms Archer said the meeting was not "confrontational", but it "wasn't entirely pastoral care".
"I would describe that as a frank conversation," she said.
"I think it was frank in both directions. I certainly spoke my mind about the issue ... and a range of other issues, and he responded in kind."
The government wanted to focus on its religious freedom bill, but Ms Archer said the anti-corruption commission had also been promised - and that it should be a priority to build trust with the electorate.
Her vote was ultimately unsuccessful on a technicality, but she wanted to see further debate on anti-corruption models.
"I think there are good and bad parts in all of the models," Ms Archer said.
"[Helen Haines] has put a lot of work into consulting with judges, integrity experts, to try to have that robust model that treats people fairly, though not creating a kangaroo court. I don't think anyone wants to see a Star Chamber or something.
"At the same time, I think for me, the thing that is most important is that an Integrity Commission is not just anti-corruption, it's pro-integrity."
Since deciding to vote in favour of the debate on Thursday - a decision she said she initially "wasn't planning" on making - Ms Archer said had had "very positive conversations" with other coalition MPs on the issue.
Some of the mains ways in which federal funding and grant schemes are allegedly misused comes at election time to win marginal seats - particularly with the sport rorts and car park rorts affairs.
Despite holding the coalition's most marginal seat by just 0.4 per cent, Ms Archer did not say whether she would reject any funding for Bass if the merits of the funding were unclear.
"I would like to think that they weren't misused to win seats," she said.
"I don't know how much it does influence people or not."
Crossing the floor and vaccine mandates
Her decision came at the same time as other coalition MPs were following through on a threat to withhold votes in the Senate unless the government stepped in to stop states from enforcing vaccine mandates.
When asked if some of her colleagues were pandering to anti-vaccination voters, Ms Archer said "yes".
"I don't know whether it's necessarily an eye on the next election, I think people will do whatever they think they need to do," she said.
"Whether I think that's the right way to do it or whether that accurately represents their constituents, that's my judgement. They're making those judgements."
Ms Archer described the way in which state and territory governments are mandating vaccinations as "the right approach".
"Governments of all states and federal, of all persuasions, are having to make decisions they haven't had to make before to try to keep people safe," she said.
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But she had concerns about the actions of some of her colleagues who were threatening to withhold votes.
"I've been frustrated by some of the commentary in the past few weeks by some of my colleagues with this idea, I'm reserving my right to cross the floor until x, y and z happens," Ms Archer said.
"I don't think that that should be used in some kind of weaponised way, or some extortionate way, to say 'I'm going to withhold my vote from the government on this particular issue', in order to try to extort an outcome on an entirely unrelated issue."
Another budget could come before election
The next federal election must be held on or before May 21, and Ms Archer believes the government will likely go full term with another budget next year.
Despite the importance of Bass, both Ms Archer and her opponent - former Labor MHR Ross Hart - generally avoid political point-scoring and personal attacks.
Ms Archer said she would not change this, even if the Prime Minister encouraged it.
"I'm not sure I would take that advice if it was provided anyway," she said.
"There's plenty of other people that like that stuff and want to do that stuff and they can do that."
Mr Hart has already pointed out the Ms Archer voted against a federal integrity commission in 2019, and has repeatedly highlighted ongoing problems in Bass in relation to healthcare and housing - issues that continue to deteriorate.
The Prime Minister's trustworthiness has also come under intense scrutiny.
Ms Archer said she had no reason to suspect he had lied to her.
"I have no reason to believe that he has, not to my knowledge," she said.
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