Liberals give green light to Coalition reunion after urgent meeting

Liberal leader Sussan Ley has been given the green light by her party room to reunite with the Nationals after a messy but brief Coalition split.

The Liberals and the Nationals are on track for a reunion after a brief but damaging split, with both sides spinning the disastrous week as a win for their camp.

Nationals leader David Littleproud’s leadership is in the spotlight after former party leader Michael McCormack – who said he helped broker a truce with the Liberals – did not rule out his own return to the top job.

Meanwhile, Liberal leader Sussan Ley was given the green light to negotiate the Coalition agreement after an urgent party room meeting on Friday afternoon, where the Liberals agreed in principle to the Nationals’ four key policy demands: supermarket divestiture powers, nuclear power, regional mobile phone coverage and a $20bn regional future fund.

Liberal MPs told News Corp they had agreed in principle to the policies.

“But the details will be subject to shadow cabinet processes. There is no blank cheque here, it’s the usual process,” one said.

David Littleproud insists he respected Sussan Ley's 'personal circumstances' after bombshell Coalition split announcement. Pictures: News Corp

It’s understood there was strong support for Ms Ley in her party room, with her colleagues recognising she had been dealt a brutal hurdle while grieving her mother who died just days ago.

Victorian MP Dan Tehan, who has been credited for playing a key role in opening negotiations between the warring sides in recent days, did not speak in the meeting on Friday afternoon nor did Ms Ley’s leadership rival Angus Taylor.

Dan Tehan played a key role in reopening negotiations. Picture: Martin Ollman

Northern Territory Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price urged the two parties to quickly resolve things, two sources in the meeting confirmed.

But not all appreciated being “lectured to” with motherhood statements by the newcomer.

Many blame Ms Price’s shock defection from the Nationals to the Liberals just days after the election as the catalyst for the deteriorating Coalition relationship.

The Coalition split was the first leadership test for Ms Ley who took over the decimated party after Peter Dutton lost his own seat at the federal election.

But Mr Littleproud, who recently survived a leadership challenge from conservative Senator Matt Canavan, has been criticised by some of his own colleagues for his handling of the agreement.

In a public rebuke, Mr McCormack sided with Ms Ley — who he said he speaks to regularly — saying the week had been “very messy”.

Mr McCormack said he remained “ambitious” and was not planning on rolling Mr Littleproud “any time soon” but did not rule out a return to leadership of his own, saying “never say never”.

One Nationals colleague accused Mr McCormack of being “treacherous” for talking with Ms Ley during the split.

But Mr McCormack said: “what I have helped broker is peace”.

“Just 48 hours ago it looked disastrous, now it looks reasonably promising,” he said.

Mr Littleproud’s leadership rival Mr Canavan backed his leader’s decision, saying the Liberals had backed down on all requests.

Despite some Coalition MPs claiming there could be a resolution by the end of Friday, sources said there was a lot of “bad faith” between the two parties.

“It’s not that we aren’t going to take them back, but we think they need to sleep in the shed for a little while,” one Liberal said.

Mr Littleproud, who will now visit flood-affected parts of the country, is expected to negotiate the agreement with Ms Ley over coming days.

This includes technical parts such as the structure of the Coalition, representation on parliamentary committees and portfolios.

Originally published as Liberals give green light to Coalition reunion after urgent meeting