Senior Liberals and Nationals push to stall on shadow ministry in bid to repair Coalition

Australia Broadcast Center

22-05-2025

Senior figures in both the Liberal and National parties are locked in last-minute negotiations to bring the Coalition back together before the two party leaders unveil their shadow ministries and portfolio spokespeople.
Liberal MP and former trade minister Dan Tehan — who played a pivotal role in negotiations over Indian and UK free trade deals — is understood to be involved in the back-channel talks along with Nationals such as Darren Chester and Barnaby Joyce.
There is a view emerging within both parties that as soon as Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud allocate and announce their respective frontbench positions, "the door will effectively close" on any reconciliation in the short term.
"Before anyone moves to put shadow ministers in place, spokespeople — now is the time to try and settle this," one MP told the ABC.
"The problem is, once you put people in place, it becomes a lot harder to take those positions away."
The starting point for negotiations, according to one source, would be clearing up confusion about what the Nationals want and figuring out exactly why the party decided to walk away from the Coalition.
"I would hate for this to be falling over because it's not clear exactly what everyone is seeking to achieve," the source said.
The partyroom decision was not unanimous and Nationals MPs, including Mr Chester, have urged Mr Littleproud to reconcile with Ms Ley before parliament resumes in late July.
Former Liberal prime minister John Howard described the break-up as "stupid" while Tony Abbott said he deeply regretted the move: "History shows that the Liberals and the Nationals win together and fail separately."
Mr Littleproud dropped the bombshell after on Tuesday after talks broke down with Ms Ley over the secret Coalition agreement.
The Nationals leader demanded Ms Ley enshrine four policies in the pact, including nuclear power and a $20 billion regional future fund, but the Liberal leader was unable to give an iron-clad commitment until a post-election policy review was completed.
Ms Ley said the major sticking point was Mr Littleproud's desire to junk the convention of shadow cabinet solidarity, and allow members of the frontbench to vote against Coalition policies.
In a sign of the deepening animosity between the two sides, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie disputed Ms Ley's version of events, telling the ABC: "The Liberal leader can talk about what she thinks went wrong."
Ms Ley has made it clear the Liberals are now the official opposition party, will hold all the shadow ministerial positions and they want the staff and entitlements that come with that.
It is understood she has started allocating roles and is preparing to announce her shadow frontbench today. However, MPs on both sides are working to delay that.