Ley, Littleproud at loggerheads as Liberals call for radical inquiry into party’s future

Momentum is building within the Liberal Party to launch a special inquiry into its future, as Coalition leaders Sussan Ley and David Littleproud jostle over the role of nuclear energy, risking a formal split of the parties.

Littleproud travelled from Canberra to Albury to meet with Ley – who is in her hometown to be with her dying mother – about the future of the Coalition pact that allows them to create a joint shadow cabinet.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her deputy, Ted O’Brien.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Debate continues about whether the Coalition should retain its polarising plan to build nuclear reactors, a key line of attack for Labor during the campaign.

Littleproud, whose party lobbied for the energy overhaul last term, is under pressure from his MPs to secure a guarantee to enshrine the nuclear policy in any agreement signed with Ley.

But a Liberal MP said the party did not want to lock in any specific policies, particularly contentious ones such as nuclear power, in the new Coalition agreement. Ley said on Tuesday that nuclear energy and the net zero emissions pledge would be reviewed over coming months alongside other policies, and the MP said Ley preferred a Coalition deal free of policy specifics.

“One thing that does unite the entire party room is we will decide what our party policies are in our own party, not dictated to by the Nationals,” said the Liberal MP, unable to speak on the record about party deliberations.

Nationals leader David Littleproud in a press conference on Monday.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

A senior Liberal source added: “Sussan is a Coalitionist and wants the Nats to join the official opposition. It’s for the Nats to determine whether they want to be in the shadow ministry.”

Nationals Senate leader Bridget McKenzie floated the prospect of a looser-than-normal relationship with the Liberals, but such an arrangement would cast doubt on the Nationals’ inclusion in the shadow cabinet and higher salaries that came with it.

McKenzie has argued the Nationals should have an economic portfolio and more power in any shadow cabinet because the Liberals lost many more MPs than the Nationals.

Highlighting the Nationals’ keenness for nuclear power over renewables as the energy grid is weaned off coal, McKenzie told this masthead it would be “against the national interest” to drop nuclear power “if we are serious about staying an industrial economy and reducing emissions”.

“Obviously, our country is best served by a strong Nationals-and-Liberals Coalition government, but the establishment of a coalition between the Liberal and National parties is never a foregone conclusion,” she said.

“As evidenced by the alliance relationship in WA and historic periods of separation in Victoria, the Nationals are always prepared to put our regional communities first.”

Ley held a press conference after her meeting with Littleproud and batted away questions on whether the parties should cut formal ties to allow the Liberals to rebuild with a focus on city-based voters.

“There were productive conversations about a range of matters, but very, very convivial, very friendly, and obviously, as I will always say, matters that the Nationals discuss in their party room are for them, and matters that the Liberal Party discuss in our party room are for us,” she said.

Liberal senator James McGrath.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

The task of carving up the spoils of defeat carries less weight than the job of rebuilding the Liberal Party after an election rout that cast doubt on its viability as an election-winning outfit.

Influential Queensland senator James McGrath is leading the charge for what he called a special commission of inquiry into the party’s reason for existence. He has been backed by former MP and NSW division president Jason Falinski.

McGrath declared the commission must be a more profound probing of the party than normal election reviews, adding that the process should not descend into blame-shifting.

“The party needs to get its shit together,” McGrath said in an interview.

“This is not about shifting right or left,” he added, pointing to the regeneration in the British Conservatives in the 2000s that focused on making core values relevant to a modern society.

Former Liberal MP Jason Falinski.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

McGrath said the party had the time for a national inquiry run by a mix of party elders, elected MPs, volunteer leaders and centre-right thought leaders, with public and closed hearings.

As evidenced by the Conservatives’ demise in Scotland, McGrath, who worked in British politics, said there were no guarantees the Liberal Party would remain a party permanently able to form a majority government.

“Australia is changing, but my belief is our values are timeless. But why is it that women are not supporting us and, apart from some Baby Boomers, we are losing votes?” he said.

“When we lose, it isn’t just us losing –Australians suffer. It’s in the national interest that the Liberal Party take a long look at itself.”

Falinski floated that the commission should be led by MPs such as McGrath, defeated Liberal Keith Wolahan, campaign specialists such as Sir Lynton Crosby, digital campaigner Nick Palmer, and prominent Liberal women who can generate ideas to reverse the party’s perception problem among white-collar and young women.

Falinski said the party needed to overhaul its use of data and software to reach its desired audience; refocus on core principles around growing the economic pie rather than dividing it; get better at telling compelling human stories that underpin policies; and find new design and content making tools to make its messaging more resonant.

“On the commission, I have a very strong view that whoever is on it should not be afraid to point out the number of conflicts of interest between senior office bearers and vendors providing services to the Liberal Party,” he said.

“The make-up of the commission should be people who have both experience and are not afraid to consider the unthinkable and get on with the job of making the party better rather than covering up who is to blame.”

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