Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has defected from the Nationals and will sit in the Liberal Party room, less than 48 hours after heavily implying she wouldn't do so.

There had been calls for the conservative senator, who led the No campaign during the Voice referendum, to join the Liberals even before her announcement on Thursday.

Despite being elected under the Country Liberal Party (CLP) ticket for a second term as a Senator for the Northern Territory, after the Coalition's landslide defeat on the weekend, Senator Price said she believed she could be more effective as a member of the Liberals.

"I am eager to fight for the best interests of all Australians as part of the Coalition," she said in a statement reported by the Australian Financial Review.

"I believe I will be more effective in this regard if I am a member of the Liberal Party, especially as the party faces a significant rebuild after Saturday. A rebuild, I feel obliged to play a robust part in."

Days after Peter Dutton lost his seat, the move further ignites rumours Senator Price will support Angus Taylor, or even run as his deputy, for Coalition leadership.

The Walpiri/Celtic woman said she wants to "bring back our core values of liberty, individual freedom and responsibility, the rule of law, free market and economic prosperity, minimal government intervention, a fair go and most of all, love for our nation, Australia".

She said she was "deeply appreciative of the opportunities the National Party under David Littleproud's leadership has given me," highlighting the "responsibility of leading the No campaign in the Voice referendum".

"I do, however, feel the Liberal Party is my natural home and somewhere I can contribute meaningfully," Senator Price said in a statement.

Similar to the LNP in Queensland, the CLP exists as a distinct entity at the Territory level, with its representatives choosing which party to align with when they're elected to federal parliament.

The decision to defect is also slightly surprising after the Senator said she would remain with the Nationals only two days ago.

"The convention that sits in place in the Country Liberal Party is that the first Senate ticket is to sit with the Nationals party room, the second Senate ticket with the Libs party room," she told Sky News on Tuesday.

"Lingiari [won by Labor's Marion Scrymgour] is to sit with the Nationals and Solomon [won by Labor's Luke Gosling] with the Libs (in the event of the CLP winning said seats), so that is how the CLP agreement will take place.

"That is what is expected of me from the Country Liberal Party and obviously from the Nationals as well."

While Senator Price is widely popular amongst conservative commentators, who have campaigned for her to lead the party to the next election, especially after her success in the referendum campaign, the Coalition were heavily defeated at the election on the weekend.

Criticism of the opposition's use of culture wars - including attacks on Welcome to Country - has been seen by many in the wash-up from the election to have been damaging and may not be abated by Senator Price's defection.

Not all are happy with the decision, with insiders arguing it will push the Coalition further to the right, when there are broad calls to return to the centre.

Furthermore, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan unloaded on Senator Price, telling The Daily Telegraph she had used National Party funds to campaign for her Senate spot, only to ditch the party before counting in some seats had even been finalised.

"By doing this Jacinta is the Lidia Thorpe of the Coalition ... before the votes are even counted, she's switched another side," he said.

"She has disenfranchised the voter, disappointed the members of the Country Liberal Party, she used Nationals Party funds to elect herself and before she's even elected she's turned around."

Mr Canavan added: "It's a traitorous act."

Senator Price ended her statement on Thursday by arguing the Liberals needed to "stop whispering our values and start declaring them again, not as fringe ideas, but as the foundation on which this country was built".

"Let this serve as a reminder that our duty is not to win favour with the few, but to stand united with the many – those who Menzies recognised, those who Howard defended, and those we must fight for now," she said.

After arguing the Coalition would "Make Australia Great Again" at a gathering in Perth, and the subsequent emergence of a photograph of her wearing a 'MAGA' hat, Senator Price seemed to be sidelined from campaigning by the Coalition, something she told Sky News on Monday was "absolutely frustrating".

"Watching the way the media, you know, like a bunch of vultures, will absolutely goad you on one particular issue and smear you with, you know, another country's president," she said.

"That was a significant role...some of the media played."

Furthermore, despite positioning the Coalition as supporters of remote and regional communities in the NT, the vast electorate of Lingiari saw a surge towards Labor on Saturday, whilst the CLP's foothold on the NT after last year's Territory election didn't translate into a decisive swing, with Labor also holding onto the Darwin seat of Solomon.