Any Nationals MPs eyeing off front bench portfolios can kiss that dream goodbye as the Nationals voted this morning to end the coalition with the Liberals.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud announced an agreement couldn’t be reached and his party “will sit alone on a principled basis”.
“It’s on a principled position of making sure that those hard-fought wins are maintained and respected and we continue to look forward.”
“What we are saying is that what we secured in the former coalition are policies that should remain,” he said.
The sticking points are believed to be the National Party’s insistence on divesture powers over supermarkets, a policy position the Liberal Party was always uncomfortable with, and nuclear power, which is widely believed to be responsible – along with Peter Dutton’s general unlikability – to be responsible for the decimation of the Liberal Party. The expansion of the Universal Service Agreement and the Regional Future Fund were also proffered as policies they were not prepared to drop.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud claimed it was a “principled position” and left the door open for a return to Coalition, saying the split will give the Liberal Party time and space to work through their current issues.
“Sussan’s got a big job ahead of her, but I shouldn’t be sitting there dictating terms while she does that,” Littleproud said.
“They are going on a journey of rediscovery, and this will provide them the opportunity to do that without the spectre of the National Party imposing their will, but setting clear boundaries and parameters about what’s important to us.”
The press conference revealed that impatience was part of the decision, with the Liberals wanting a longer period to review policy and positions rather than committing to positions now, and the Nationals refusing to wait. In particular, David Littleproud went to Albury to discuss the matter, rather than waiting for Sussan Ley to return to Canberra after the death of her mother last week. Ley was also denied the opportunity to convene her own party room meeting to discuss the issues.
It seems Littleproud also didn’t wait for Member for New England, Barnaby Joyce, to return to work after having surgery for prostate cancer earlier this month.
Speaking from home here in the New England on the Chris Smith program on the Super Radio Network, Joyce was more humble in his comments, saying that the Nationals need to reflect on their position as well, having lost seats in the previous election, being reduces to 19 seats including the Senate.
He also told Smith that his surgery went well and they got it all, but he’s “just a little bit uncomfortable”.
Joyce does not believe that the Coalition is done, and Littleproud reiterated multiple times that his preference, and the preference of Ley, is that they reconcile and reunite before the next election.
The Coalition agreement is tradition not about policy, or principles, although they are never made public. It is an agreement about how many members hold ministerial roles and power sharing of executive government. The last time the Coalition agreement broke was in the 80’s as part of the Joh for PM push, and it lasted four months.
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