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ABC News
28-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Coalition gets back together after week-long split
The Liberal and National parties have struck a deal to reunify, a week after the Coalition's extraordinary split in the wake of a ruinous election defeat. The ABC has been told a press conference will be held later today, and that frontbench positions are being allocated. Nationals Leader David Littleproud announced last Tuesday that his party would be ending the Coalition Agreement with the Liberals over four policy issues the party demanded be kept. Days later, the Liberal Party agreed in principle not to include those policies — nuclear power, a Regional Australia Future Fund, break-up powers for the supermarket sector and better mobile coverage in the bush — in a sweeping review of the Coalition's election loss.
News.com.au
27-05-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Cabinet solidarity not taken to Nationals party room, Bridget McKenzie says
David Littleproud did not take an agreement to cabinet solidarity to the Nationals party room as part of reopening Coalition negotiations with the Liberals, Bridget McKenzie has declared. The Nationals sensationally split from the Liberal party last week, breaking up one of the most successful partnerships in Australian politics, and the parties have been in crisis talks ever since, with a reformation expected to be announced this week. Speaking on the state of play on Wednesday, the senior Nationals senator said her party room had agreed to re-enter talks after the Liberal Party conceded on four key policies the party previously refused to give a guarantee on. The four polices, which were central to the Nationals' campaign, included divestiture powers for supermarkets, nuclear power, its proposed $20bn regional Australia fund and greater telecommunications coverage. Senator McKenzie said a proposed agreement on cabinet solidarity — which means all shadow ministers would back positions of the Coalition regardless of personal views — was not presented to the Nationals party room. 'What was put to the party room and what the party room made its decision on was the four policy issues,' she told Seven on Wednesday. 'I was in the room. I know what the room made its decision on and it was the four policies, the mobile connectivity, divestiture of supermarkets, nuclear and obviously the regional futures fund.' Pressed on whether cabinet solidarity was included, Senator McKenzie said it 'wasn't put to the room'. When asked if the Nationals leader did not bring it to the party room at all after speaking with Sussan Ley, she said it was a matter of 'private conversations' between Mr Littleproud and the Liberal leader. 'I think you are going to have to talk to Sussan Ley and David Littleproud about their private conversations together as leaders,'Senator McKenzie said. 'I can only let you know what the room discussed. And what we made our decision on.' Senator McKenzie has been scathing of the Liberal Party since the federal election and fiercely supported her party's shock split from the Coalition last week.
News.com.au
25-05-2025
- Politics
- News.com.au
New Coalition agreement to be inked in ‘coming couple of days', Littleproud says
A new Coalition agreement will be inked in the 'coming couple of days', David Littleproud says. The Nationals leader earlier this week announced his party was breaking up with the Liberal Party, marking the only the fourth breach in the Coalition's 79-year history. But days later, both Mr Littleproud and Sussan Ley confirmed the shock split was on pause following last-minute concessions from the Liberal leader. Mr Littleproud said on Sunday he had 'received the written response and confirmation that the Liberal Party is prepared to accept the four policy areas that were the reason we couldn't sign up to that coalition'. 'They were important to us,' he told Sky News. 'They were policy areas that people before I even got into the National Party party room had fought for and could see would change the lives of the people we represent. 'And we made great progress in the last term of parliament, and I wanted to make sure that they they remained, and we couldn't get that guarantee.' The four policies the Nationals would not budge on in negotiations included divestiture powers for supermarkets, nuclear power, its proposed $20bn regional Australia fund and greater telecommunications coverage. It clashed with Ms Ley's vision of a 'nothing adopted and nothing abandoned' approach to reviewing policies in the wake of the Coalition's decimation at the federal election. Mr Littleproud said the would be 'further discussions with Susan (Ley)' in the coming week but welcomed that 'the Liberal Party were able to finally appreciate' how important the policy demands were to the Nationals. 'Unfortunately, it was after we had to give the ultimate decision from our party room,' he said. He added it was not a decision 'we took lightly', but 'one that came with much sacrifice from many of our people, knowing that they weren't going to get paid Shadow Cabinet positions and potentially lose their Senate spots'. 'But we took a principled position, and we're appreciative that the Liberal Party party room was finally brought together to appreciate that, and we got a resolution,' Mr Littleproud said. 'I think that shows great intent from the Liberal Party.'
The Guardian
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Nationals and Liberals at odds over reasons for Coalition split as Ley tries to mend fences
David Littleproud says the historic Coalition split was only about key policy promises for regional Australia, rejecting claims he demanded that Nationals in the shadow ministry be free to speak out against Coalition policy. Argument over the reasons behind the breakup comes as the opposition leader, Sussan Ley, has sought discussions with Nationals who opposed the split, as part of efforts to try to repair the breach. Ley has approached former leaders Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack as well as frontbencher Darren Chesters as she seeks reconciliation. Ley said this week the Nationals had sought changes to the practice of shadow cabinet solidarity, a rule that requires frontbenchers to advocate for the party's settled position regardless of their personal views. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email But Littleproud said on Thursday morning the breakdown was only because of four policy demands: for the introduction of nuclear power, forced break-up powers for the big supermarkets, a $20bn regional infrastructure fund and telecommunication service guarantees in the bush. 'I didn't think that was too much to expect,' Littleproud said. 'We couldn't get a guarantee on that, sadly, but we stand ready. If we can get a guarantee on that, then our door is open.' On Wednesday the Nationals' Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, was asked on the ABC's 7.30 program if Ley was lying when stating the Nationals' shadow ministers wanted to break cabinet solidarity as a condition of a new coalition agreement. McKenzie said it was 'not part of our consideration' and Nationals' demands were limited to the four policy ultimatums. But Ley's office pushed back during the live interview, texting the ABC to insist that it was 'not correct to suggest that shadow cabinet solidarity was not a sticking point'. Asked on ABC TV about the breakdown on cabinet solidarity, Littleproud said Ley's response on the question was 'satisfactory and reasonable and fair'. 'It wasn't up for debate in our party room because I believed what she sent back was more than reasonable.' Littleproud said the Nationals' position on the voice to parliament debate had set back relations with former opposition leader Peter Dutton in the last term of parliament. He refused to say if he sought to be made deputy opposition leader, over Ley's deputy Liberal leader, Ted O'Brien. The growing spat follows publication of a letter from McKenzie to the Liberal Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, sent before the split, in which she warned the junior partner would have to consider whether it continued to sit with the Liberals in the Senate after Jacinta Nampijinpa Price's defection to the Liberals. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion McKenzie's letter was first published by on Thursday. She raised party status for the Nationals in the Senate after Nampijinpa Price moved to join the Liberal party room to stand as deputy leader earlier this month. '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,'' McKenzie wrote. Within days the two parties had formally split for the first time since the late 1980s, badly weakening both in parliament and making it difficult for the Liberals to challenge Labor at the next election. Former prime minister Tony Abbott joined the growing debate on Thursday, calling the split bad for both sides on Sydney radio 2GB. 'If the Libs and the Nats go their separate ways, we won't have one strong opposition, we'll have two opposition parties that are fighting each other as much as they're fighting a bad government,' he said. 'That's a recipe for permanent opposition and that's a recipe for permanent poor government in our country.' The deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, said the split was driven by principles and acknowledged the party could pay a price at the next election, including the loss of Senate spots in Victoria and New South Wales, due to an end of joint tickets with the Liberals. 'We've lost shadow cabinet positions around this … It was a decision that two of our senators could make at great cost to them,' he said.
Daily Mail
21-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Dramatic moment ABC host interrupts her segment to reveal a scathing note from Sussan Ley as Coalition women go to war
The bitter Coalition split erupted live on national television, with tensions boiling over as Liberal leader Sussan Ley's team dramatically texted into the ABC studio to publicly contradict Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie during her appearance on 7.30. In a fiery interview with journalist Sarah Ferguson, McKenzie claimed the sole reason for the rupture was Ley's refusal to guarantee four key policy ultimatums - a move she said left the Nationals no choice but to walk. The party had requested the Coalition maintain policies on supermarket divestiture powers, regional phone coverage, nuclear energy, and the Regional Australia Future Fund. 'Sussan Ley could not give our party room the guarantee we sought,' Senator McKenzie said. '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.' McKenzie strongly denied that the fallout was over the National's desire for their shadow cabinet members to be free from obeying the rules of sticking to overall Coalition cabinet decisions. 'I can tell you, because I was in the National party room that made this decision, the decision that was then conveyed to the Liberal leader. And that was not part of our consideration … it was solely on those four policies,' she said. But while Senator McKenzie was on air, the team of Liberals leader Sussan Ley was texting into the studio, refuting the claims. 'It is not correct to suggest shadow cabinet solidarity was not a sticking point,' the text said. 'We have it in writing that it was a requirement from their leader's office to ours.' Ley's office texted again to add: '(McKenzie's) language was deliberate to make it sound like it was just about the policies. That is just not correct.' When the texts were put to McKenzie, she told ABC in a statement that she stood by her comments. 'The claims made above were not the basis of the Nationals party room decision not to form a Coalition at this time,' she said. Viewers who witnessed the tense interview and Ferguson reading out the text declared it was 'all out war now' on social media. 'Factional bloodsport dressed up as leadership,' one user said. Another commented: 'They ain't getting back together anytime soon and I don't think therapy with Howard or Abbott will bring a union either.' Tension had been growing between the two former Coalition partners since the Labor's federal election landslide on May 3. Division was only made worse when Senator Jacinta Price defected from the Nationals to sit with the Liberal party to run in a joint-ticket for leadership with Angus Taylor. After the former shadow treasurer was defeated, Price withdrew her hat from the ring. The Coalition has only split three times in the last 100 years. The last time was in 1987 over the 'Joh for Canberra' campaign, which pushed for Queensland National Party premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen to become Prime Minister. Then, the two parties split for a matter of months before the rift healed after the 1987 federal election.
