Latest news with #Nationals-turned-independent
The Guardian
20-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Coalition partners need each other to regain power – but their breakup may do the Liberal party some good
It actually happened. The Liberals and Nationals are breaking up, ending a decades-long partnership of political convenience that has been necessary for conservatives to hold power. The Nationals leader, David Littleproud, informed the Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, mid-morning on Tuesday that the country party wouldn't sign a new coalition agreement. The first and obvious question is why. The simple answer is that the Liberals wouldn't accept the Nationals' demand to maintain four key policy positions: support for nuclear power, a $20bn regional future fund, breakup powers for supermarkets and minimum standards for regional mobile and internet access. The Nationals pushed the Peter Dutton-led Liberals to adopt the policies in the previous term and were not prepared to relitigate the case with Ley now in charge. 'A reasonable request was put to a trusted partner and it was refused,' the Nationals' Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, said at a press conference with Littleproud at Parliament House. A senior Liberal source said the Nationals had a fifth demand that went unmentioned at the press conference: an insistence that even members of the shadow cabinet be allowed to cross the floor to vote against their own side. That position, the source said, was 'untenable'. The Liberals didn't refuse the Nationals' policy demands because of any particular opposition to them. These were, after all, measures Dutton took to an election just weeks ago. Instead, Ley refused because she wasn't prepared to lock the Liberals into any positions, certainly not in a binding coalition agreement. That was her promise to colleagues immediately after winning the Liberal leadership. Every policy – including net zero and nuclear – was up for review. There would be no 'captain's calls', she said. The reasons for the split tells a story about the vastly different positions the Liberals and Nationals find themselves. The Nationals felt emboldened in the previous term after winning internal arguments on nuclear and supermarket divestiture, and front-running the no case in the voice to parliament referendum. The party held all of their seats on 3 May, although it failed to win back the regional New South Wales seat of Calare from Nationals-turned-independent Andrew Gee. The Nationals might be divided on some policies, such as net zero, but Littleproud's team feels certain of what and who it stands for, so much so that it is willing to blow up the Coalition and forfeit frontbench positions (and the salaries that come with them). The Liberals, in contrast, need to figure that out. Ley and her senior colleagues wanted to remain in a coalition. But a split might do the Liberals some good, providing some clear air while they wrestle with not just policies, but their purpose and direction. With no Nationals to accomodate in shadow cabinet, Ley's task of appeasing of members of her own divided party just got a little easier. Of course, the Liberals and Nationals don't have the numbers to form government on their own. There will need to be a reunion at some point to regain power. How and when that happens is anyone's guess.
Perth Now
03-05-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
Losers in Albo's shock election landslide
Anthony Albanese has led Labor to a landslide win in the federal election after a nationwide swing toward the party put it on track to gain up to nine seats in the lower house. The path to victory was brutal on the opposition, costing several senior Coalition MPs — including leader Peter Dutton — their seats. The Greens have also taken a hit, with even the minor party's leader fighting to retain his seat of Melbourne. With the vote count continuing, here are the key winners and losers so far. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has led Labor to a landslide victory. Jason Edwards / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia NSW Labor's Zhi Soon defeated senior Liberal MP David Coleman in the Sydney seat of Banks. Mr Coleman was the opposition's foreign affairs spokesman. Jenny Ware also lost Hughes — a Liberal stronghold since 1996 — to Labor's David Moncrieff, a 29-year-old first time candidate. At the time of reporting, several other key seats in the state remain too close to call, including Calare, held by Nationals-turned-independent MP Andrew Gee. Jenny Ware (second from left), who was elected in 2022 to represent Hughes, lost the Liberal stronghold to a 29-year-old first time Labor candidate. NewsWire / Nikki Short Credit: News Corp Australia Queensland The Opposition Leader lost the seat of the Dickson to Labor's Ali France, bringing an end to Mr Dutton's 24 years in parliament. It was Ms France's third attempt to oust him from the marginal north Brisbane seat. Other LNP losers in Brisbane included Luke Howarth (Petrie), Ross Vasta (Bonner) and Terry Burt van Manen (Forde). The Greens also took a hit in the Sunshine State, with one-termers Stephen Bates (Brisbane) and Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith) both succumbing to the red wave. Labor's Matt Smith also won the Far North Queensland seat of Leichhardt after longtime LNP MP Warren Entsch retired. High profile Greens MP Max Chandler-Mather MP lost his seat as a red wave took over Australia on Saturday night. NewsWire / Martin Ollman Credit: News Corp Australia Victoria Michael Sukkar, the Coalition's housing spokesman and manager of business in the house is expected to lose his seat of Deakin to Labor's Matt Gregg. Tasmania Labor's Jess Teesdale unseated maverick Liberal MP Bridget Archer in the ultra-marginal Tasmanian electorate of Bass, while Labor senator-turned-lower house candidate Anne Urquhart beat the Liberals' Mal Hingston for Braddon. Anne Urquhart took the seat of Braddon. Jason Edwards / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Western Australia Vince Connelly — the former MP for the abolished Perth seat of Stirling — failed in his bid to return to parliament in Moore, with Labor's Tom French set to take it. South Australia Rising Liberal star James Stevens lost the Adelaide seat of Sturt to Labor's Claire Clutterham ACT Labor managed to clearly retain two of its three seats in the capital territory. Counting was still underway in Bean. More to come.
News.com.au
03-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
Federal Election 2025: Winners and Losers after Labor's landslide
Anthony Albanese has led Labor to a landslide win in the federal election after a nationwide swing toward the party put it on track to gain up to nine seats in the lower house. The path to victory was brutal on the opposition, costing several senior Coalition MPs — including leader Peter Dutton — their seats. The Greens have also taken a hit, with even the minor party's leader fighting to retain his seat of Melbourne. With the vote count continuing, here are the key winners and losers so far. NSW Labor's Zhi Soon defeated senior Liberal MP David Coleman in the Sydney seat of Banks. Mr Coleman was the opposition's foreign affairs spokesman. Jenny Ware also lost Hughes — a Liberal stronghold since 1996 — to Labor's David Moncrieff, a 29-year-old first time candidate. At the time of reporting, several other key seats in the state remain too close to call, including Calare, held by Nationals-turned-independent MP Andrew Gee. Queensland The Opposition Leader lost the seat of the Dickson to Labor's Ali France, bringing an end to Mr Dutton's 24 years in parliament. It was Ms France's third attempt to oust him from the marginal north Brisbane seat. Other LNP losers in Brisbane included Luke Howarth (Petrie), Ross Vasta (Bonner) and Terry Burt van Manen (Forde). The Greens also took a hit in the Sunshine State, with one-termers Stephen Bates (Brisbane) and Max Chandler-Mather (Griffith) both succumbing to the red wave. Victoria Michael Sukkar, the Coalition's housing spokesman and manager of business in the house is expected to lose his seat of Deakin to Labor's Matt Gregg. Tasmania Labor's Jess Teesdale unseated maverick Liberal MP Bridget Archer in the ultra-marginal Tasmanian electorate of Bass, while Labor senator-turned-lower house candidate Anne Urquhart beat the Liberals' Mal Hingston for Braddon. Western Australia Vince Connelly — the former MP for the abolished Perth seat of Stirling — failed in his bid to return to parliament in Moore, with Labor's Tom French set to take it. South Australia ACT Labor managed to clearly retain two of its three seats in the capital territory. Counting was still underway in Bean.
Perth Now
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Perth Now
'You can't park there': independents take on the bush
As National Party leader David Littleproud stood on a street corner on a frigid autumn morning, the spectre of electoral defeat loomed large. While Mr Littleproud chatted to voters outside an early polling place in Orange, in central west NSW, on Tuesday, a travelling billboard for independent candidate Kate Hook pulled up behind him. "You can't park there," former NSW Nationals MLC Rick Colless said firmly. The trailer soon moved on. Mr Littleproud's presence outside St Barnabas Anglican Church in the heart of the seat of Calare speaks volumes about the threat independent candidates pose in regional electorates. The coalition has been targeting several key rural seats in the lead-up to the May 3 election, including Calare, Cowper, in northern NSW, and Wannon, in regional Victoria. Climate 200-backed independents are emerging as key challengers in each of those seats. Nurse Caz Heise is looking to upset Nationals MP Pat Conaghan in Cowper, while former radio host Alex Dyson is challenging senior Liberal Dan Tehan in Wannon. Calare is a complex battleground, with strong local support for Nationals candidate Sam Farraway, Nationals-turned-independent MP Andrew Gee, and Ms Hook. Mr Gee sensationally quit the Nationals seven months after the 2022 election, citing the party's opposition to an Indigenous voice to parliament and its response to local flood disasters. Mr Littleproud has previously declared Calare a path to coalition victory. But he appeared unperturbed by the threat of independents in regions that were once the coalition's heartland. "We're going to run our own race," he told reporters at Bathurst RSL, where he committed to a regional hub for veterans. "We're going to be very positive. We have a positive plan. "We're about to make the biggest investment in regional Australia any government has ever made - ever." Opposition Leader Peter Dutton was due to campaign in Orange on Tuesday, but cancelled his commitments following the death of Pope Francis. Ms Hook, a small-scale farmer and renewable energy advocate, acknowledged a split in the conservative vote between Mr Farraway and Mr Gee could help her win Calare. "It seems to make sense because what I'm hearing from people is you look at the other two candidates, what people see is the same," Ms Hook told reporters outside St Barnabas. "We've got a National Party candidate and we've got a former National Party candidate - they seem the same, they vote the same, they do politics the same. "Whereas what I'm hearing from people is they want to do politics differently."
