Federal Cabinet Minister Christopher Pyne has used the turmoil surrounding Clive Palmer’s Queensland Nickel to warn voters away from minor parties.

The refinery was placed in voluntary administration on Monday, having donated more than $20 million to the Palmer United Party (PUP) over the past two years.

Mr Pyne said the voters in Mr Palmer’s seat of Fairfax would be likely looking for a new local member.

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He told Channel Nine that PUP had been a “disaster”.

“This is an example of why people shouldn’t play with independents and minor parties, because of the instability they create,” he said.

“Quite frankly, whether it’s Labor or Liberal, we have the processes in place to ensure that we don’t have the kind of outcomes that happen with PUP or One Nation or whatever political party is passing at the time.”

Mr Pyne is facing a challenge from a minor party candidate in his own Adelaide seat, where independent senator Nick Xenophon is fielding a candidate for his newly formed party.

Senator Xenophon’s party, the Nick Xenophon Team, is one of several parties formed by sitting politicians such as:

• Queensland senator Glenn Lazarus, who split from PUP to later create the Glenn Lazarus Team
• Tasmanian senator Jacqui Lambie, who also split from PUP and has formed the Jacqui Lambie Network
• Independent senator John Madigan, who has registered John Madigan’s Manufacturing and Farming Party

There are currently 49 political parties registered with the Australian Electoral Commission, with more in the application process.

The count is lower than the total registered for the 2013 federal election, which saw the highest number of minor parties in Australian history.

– ABC