Dumped Northern Territory chief minister Adam Giles has left the door open to joining the Turnbull government, while rounding on Liberal predecessor Shane Stone.
Mr Stone, who served as chief minister of the NT from 1995 to 1999, on Monday vowed to block any move to install Mr Giles in the federal Parliament following the Country Liberal Party's electoral thumping on Saturday.
It is not yet clear if Mr Giles will retain his Alice Springs-based seat, but the CLP has been wiped out in the landslide poll that installed Labor's Michael Gunner as the new chief minister.
Mr Giles led the CLP government for about three years after unseating colleague Terry Mills as chief minister in 2013.
Mr Stone told the ABC on Monday that he was unhappy Mr Giles had left the door open on Saturday night to potentially replacing federal Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion. Senator Scullion and Mr Giles are said to be allies.
"I think it's unseemly, we'd just been belted, trashed, thrown out of office and all of a sudden people start talking about the next career — no, no, you need to repent, you need to help repair the damage to get this party back on track," Mr Stone said.
Mr Giles told Fairfax Media on Monday that he had not ruled out a future tilt at the Senate - nor a range of other options - once the result in his seat was clear.
"I said the other day disunity is death. I have no doubt that there will be many barbs thrown in the coming days, and I understand many will be thrown at me," he said.
"Slagging off colleagues and party members who are supposed to be on your side is what got us to into this position in the first place. To see people who used to be senior and used to be respected throwing barbs, it doesn't help at all."
Mr Giles said he believed he could make a contribution to a "range of things over a range of time".
Asked directly if he could make tilt for a Senate seat one day, he said: "I'm leaving it wide open."
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull rushed to blame local issues for the CLP's thrashing on Saturday and distanced the federal Liberal Party from the result.
But Opposition Leader Bill Shorten said the "outstanding" Territory election result for Labor should serve as a warning to the federal Liberal Party that "disunity is death".
