Nationals and Liberals in reconciliation talks after shock split

Daily Telegraph

22-05-2025

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It could end up being one of the shortest divorces in political history.
Just days after announcing he was blowing up the Coalition, Nationals leader David Littleproud has confirmed crisis talks could lead to a breakthrough.
As a result, Liberal leader Sussan Ley and the Nationals will delay announcing their new frontbench spokespeople as negotiations continue.
As a first step, the Liberals leader has agreed to have a party room meeting to discuss the Nationals demands – which they were not able to do before the Nationals decided to pull the pin this week.
The four key areas at issue include policies to lift the moratorium on nuclear energy, create supermarket divestiture powers, improve telecommunications services and establish a fund for the regions.
Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud. Picture: NewsWire /Martin Ollman
News.com.au understands that the Liberal leader has written to the Nationals arguing 'we are better together'.
She has expressly proposed that the Coalition continue to work together and re-engage with negotiations in good faith.
In a statement, Ms Ley suggested that the Nationals pledge to abide by cabinet solidarity could lead to a breakthrough.
'This morning, David Littleproud has made a public statement that The Nationals are willing to accept Shadow Cabinet solidarity as part of a Coalition Agreement,' she said.
'This is the first time this commitment has been made and I welcome it as a foundation to resolve other matters. Earlier today I wrote to, and met with, David inviting him to re-enter good-faith negotiations. I am pleased he has accepted.
'In relation to the policy positions proposed by the National Party Room, consistent with my consultation commitment, the Liberal Party will consider these, utilising our party room processes.
'It has always been the Liberal Party's objective to form a Coalition and we welcome The Nationals' decision to re-enter negotiations.
'The announcement of the Shadow Ministry will be paused.'
Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman
The break up has rocked the Coalition and prompted former Liberal Prime Ministers John Howard and Tony Abbott to urge all parties to urgently reconcile.
Speaking in Canberra, Mr Littleproud said reconciliation was not guaranteed but was a serious prospect.
'We had a very productive meeting about planning the way forward for the National Party,' he said.
'During that period, I had a brief meeting with Susan Ley and she made an offer to reconvene her party room to discuss the four policy areas that the National Party demanded as part of a coalition agreement.
'And I thank her for that.'
Barnaby Joyce. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman
Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman
As a result, Mr Littleproud confirmed he would delay an announcement on his own proposed frontbench.
Meanwhile, Ms Ley has also been holding talks with Nationals MPs who opposed the Coalition split, including Barnaby Joyce, Michael McCormack, and Darren Chester.
Mr Littleproud said he stood by his decision to pull the pin earlier this week.
'That's why we left. I don't know how more principled we can be,' Mr Littleproud said.
'I have a senator standing beside me that is prepared to put her job on the line because she believes in this,'' he added, referring to Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie.
'I have people in my party room who are prepared to take a pay cut because we believe in this. We're not doing this for show.'
Speaking in Canberra, the Nationals Senate leader also addressed the leaked letter, first revealed by news.com.au, revealing she canvassed a split prior to the election of Ms Ley.
'With respect to leaking letters, there's been a lot of leaking going on, it would seem, of texts of letters of conversations, I don't think I've seen anyone's interests,' she said.
'Smoking gun': Leaked letter bombshell
The leaked letter is the 'smoking gun', according to furious Liberals, that Senator McKenzie was hellbent on splitting up the Coalition after the election.
Mr Littleproud and Sen McKenzie were peppered with questions about the leak at a press conference in Canberra on Thursday afternoon.
A copy of the leaked letter.
Despite the Nationals claims that the Coalition agreement was blown up over a standoff over key policies including nuclear power, the letter obtained by news.com.au makes clear that a split was on the cards as an option before Ms Ley was even elected leader.
It was sent to Liberal Senate leader Michaelia Cash on May 12, 2025, just days after Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price quit the Nationals party room to join the Liberal Party.
At the time, she announced she was running for deputy Liberal leader on a ticket with Angus Taylor before she 'chickened out' when Angus Taylor lost the ballot.
She declined to put her hand up in the party room despite publicly announcing her candidacy.
But the leaked letter lays bare the Nationals' fury over the defection because of the impact it would have on the Nationals own status in the Senate.
What the leaked letter says
Titled 'Resignation of Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price from The Nationals Senate Party Room', the letter expressly warns that a Coalition split is a one option on the table.
'On 9 May 2025 Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price wrote to inform me of her resignation from the Nationals Senate Party room,' Sen McKenzie wrote.
'It is understood Senator Nampijinpa Price's defection to sit in the Liberal Party room is associated with overtures from the Liberal Party and an intention to stand for a leadership position in the Parliamentary Liberal Party.
'As a result of her defection, together with the severe drop in Liberal Party vote in New South Wales, from 1 July 2025 The Nationals will hold only four seats in the Senate.
'This is below what is required to maintain party status in the Senate as a party that is 'part of the Government or the Opposition' under the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017.
'Losing party status in the Senate would have significant implications for The Nationals Senate team as well as the wider Coalition.'
Jacinta Nampijinpa Price. Picture: Gera Kazakov
The final sentence in the letter contains the clear warning that a split is a real possibility.
'Depending on the outcome of negotiations between our two parties over coming weeks, The Nationals Senate Party room will need to consider our position with respect to sitting with the Liberal Party as Coalition in the Senate chamber,' Sen McKenzie wrote.
Just 24 hours later Sussan Ley was elected the Liberal leader on Tuesday, May 13 and just seven days later the Coalition would implode for the first time since the 1980s.
Negotiations with the Nationals had commenced immediately with Nationals leader David Littleproud travelling to Albury to hold talks with Ms Ley as she cared for her dying mother who was in end of life care.
Her mother, the late Angela Braybrooks, died just a few days later on Saturday, May 17.
The Nationals negotiations with Ms Ley continued as she planned the funeral with a series of texts exchanged between the pair before the Nationals met in Canberra on Tuesday, May 20.
Liberal sources have described the letter as a 'smoking gun' that the Nationals list of 'impossible demands' was a negotiation that had one destination in mind: a split in the Coalition.
But contacted over the Liberals claims, Sen McKenzie denied that she expected the Coalition would split when she wrote the letter to Sen Cash.
'In no way could I have foreseen the current situation when I penned that letter,'' Sen McKenzie told news.com.au.
'I knew I had till June 30 to find a solution and hoped we could find a resolution.'
Senator Michaelia Cash. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman
Barnaby Joyce weighs in on peace talks
Speaking on Sky News, Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce said the party had a responsibility to demonstrate to voters that it was not 'throwing Teddy in the dirt'.
'We have a job, and that is to be an effective opposition and to represent the people in your electorate,'' he said.
'We're paid good money to hold the government to account.
'Now, if you get yourself to a position where you can't do that job with the efficacy that's required, then that is probably less than desirable to the Australian people.
'Now I hope that things get resolved. I must admit, I'm no further ahead where it is than you are. It seems to be a bit of a bouncing ball.'
Barnaby Joyce emphasised the importance of the National Party's role in holding the government accountable. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Mr Joyce, who is recovering from prostate cancer surgery, also thanked his staff and his doctor for insisting he had his PSA test - the prostate antigen test that measures the amount of PSA in a man's blood.
Former US President Joe Biden was following guidelines when he stopped taking PSA tests in 2014, which is currently recommended in the US for those over 70.
Men older than 70 do not receive testing due to the risks of false positives. Mr Biden announced on Sunday he had an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
Nationals leader reacts to leaked letter
Speaking at a press conference in Canberra, Mr Littleproud said the leak of the letter was not a barrier to good faith negotiations.
'Because I know that it hasn't come from Sussan and her Chief of Staff or my Chief of Staff or myself,' he said.
'We have entered the negotiations from the start when she initiated them in good faith.
'So I get, there's peripherals that get privy to some information and make it difficult, and then spin whatever angle. But I'm going to be bigger than that.'
'I can trust Sussan and that's why she took a leap of faith today and took a step forward and said that she's prepared to go back and to bring her party room back. That's a good
thing.'
Nationals take a swipe at Sussan Ley
Overnight, Sen McKenzie has also taken a swipe at Ms Ley, insisting the real issue was that key policies including nuclear power could not be guaranteed by the party's new leader moving forward.
'The issue here is that Sussan Ley could not give our party room the guarantee we sought to actually ensure that divestiture powers for supermarkets, mobile phone coverage for our communities in emergencies and to run their businesses, lifting the moratorium on nuclear, and the retention of the Regional Australia Future Fund – the $20 billion Future Fund that would underpin our local economies going forward – were going to be Coalition policies going forward,' Sen McKenzie told ABC's 7.30 on Wednesday.
'She couldn't give that guarantee to us. She refused to. She put it in writing. We put that to our party room, and our party room decided we were to leave the Coalition.
'In our game, we actually ask for this in writing. And it was provided to our leader in writing that she could not guarantee those four policies.
'And that was enough for our party room to make the decision that it did.'
However, news.com.au understands that rather than a letter, Ms Ley was texting Mr Littleproud as she was trying to organise her mother's funeral.
Former Prime Minister John Howard has labelled the split 'stupid'. Picture:Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has similarly called for the Coalition's reformation. Picture: NewsWire/Martin Ollman
John Howard has described the split as 'stupid'
Tony Abbott has called for the immediate reformation of the Coalition to bring a 'strong critique' to the current government.
'I deeply regret the Coalition split and hope that it can be re-formed as soon as possible,' he wrote on X.
'History shows that the Liberals and the Nationals win together and fail separately. What's needed right now is a strong critique of a deeply underwhelming government and the development of a clear policy alternative.'
It's understood that former Nationals leaders Michael McCormack and Barnaby Joyce voiced concerns about the split in the Nationals party room.
Veteran Nationals MP Darren Chester revealed he's talking with colleagues 'across the political divide' to get the Coalition back together.
'My concern is that we will be giving Labor a free pass if we go back to parliament some time in the next month or so as two divided parties,' he told the ABC.
'We owe it to our supporters to have another crack at forming a coalition in the interests of providing a strong and stable opposition … if we want to deliver for regional Australia as Nationals, we need to be in government.'
Originally published as Nationals and Liberals in reconciliation talks after shock split