Conservative state parties ponder alliance future in wake of federal Coalition split

A Queensland Nationals MP has raised the spectre of the state’s Liberal National Party de-merging in the wake of the Coalition split, as LNP leaders insist it is business as usual.

Sarah Elks, Paul Garvey and Alexi Demetriadi

Queensland LNP Premier David Crisafulli. Picture: Dan Peled / NewsWire

3 min read

9 hours ago.

Updated 9 hours ago

A Queensland Nationals MP has raised the spectre of the state’s Liberal National Party de-merging in the wake of the Coalition split, as LNP leaders insist it is business as usual.

The historic breaking of the Coalition agreement on Tuesday sparked an emergency executive meeting of Queensland’s LNP – which formed after a merger in 2008 – and prompted MPs to question how the state’s combined conservative forces would operate after the federal divorce.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the LNP as a party worked for Queensland and delivered for Queenslanders, while party president Lawrence Springborg reassured members nothing would change.

Mr Springborg – known as the godfather of the LNP after serving as its inaugural parliamentary leader – reassured members the Coalition split would not make a difference to how the party operated in Canberra. He said all Queensland’s federal LNP MPs already sat in either the Liberal or National partyrooms, and that would not change.

“Under existing parliamentary arrangements, the National and Liberal partyrooms retain the discretion and autonomy to negotiate their own policy position and working arrangements,” Mr Springborg said.

He said the split would have no bearing on the operation of either the Crisafulli LNP government or the nation’s largest local government, the Brisbane City Council LNP administration.

LNP president Lawrence Springborg. Picture: NewsWire / Glenn Campbell

Queensland LNP MP Colin Boyce – who sits in the Nationals partyroom in Canberra – says the Coalition split will raise questions about the future of the merged LNP. Picture: Quentin Jones

Mr Springborg said the Queensland LNP was the only state or territory conservative party to secure a majority of seats and a majority of votes at the May 3 federal election, and that if the former Coalition had achieved the same proportion of seats in other jurisdictions “Peter Dutton and David Littleproud would be prime minister and deputy prime minister respectively, with a four-seat working majority”.

“The LNP remains optimistic that the federal partyrooms will continue discussions around negotiating a future Coalition agreement,” he said, urging conservative parties around the country not to waste resources on three-cornered contests at future elections.

But Colin Boyce – a federal Queensland LNP MP who sits in the Nationals partyroom in Canberra – said the Coalition split would raise questions about whether the LNP should remain merged.

“How do I walk into an LNP conference in Brisbane, being a member of the federal National Party, and also being a member of the LNP … and negotiate policy in Queensland (for the LNP) … versus the fact that as federal politicians we stand separate from the Liberal Party? I don’t know the answer to that, but it’s a question that needs to be resolved,” Mr Boyce said.

He said he had raised the question in the Nationals partyroom but had not received an answer.

Queensland LNP senator Matt Canavan – who also sits in the Nationals partyroom and unsuccessfully challenged Mr Littleproud for the leadership this month – praised the Nationals leader for demonstrating “strength, courage and conviction”.

“He and the Nationals are fighting to save Australia, not save our party,” Senator Canavan said.

After Mr Littleproud’s announcement of the split, the NSW Liberal and Nationals leaders reaffirmed the pair’s relationship and partnership ahead of the early 2027 state election.

WA Opposition Leader Shane Love. Picture: Sharon Smith

The leader of the Western Australian Nationals – who have not been in coalition with the state’s Liberals for almost two decades – has warned his federal party colleagues to establish a clear agreement with the Liberals before the next election.

Shane Love told The Australian the lack of a formal coalition with the Liberals in WA meant he and his party colleagues had been able to embrace different policy positions to their Liberal counterparts, which he said explained why the party had been better able to hold ground around the state.

But he said the Nationals and Liberals – both at a WA state level and federally – needed to have a formal structure in place before the next elections to avoid unnecessary three-cornered contests and duplicated policy.

The WA conservative parties’ coalition broke down before the 2008 election, but the relationship between the parties has grown awkward since then.

Mr Love said that after three terms in opposition in WA there was a realisation in both the state Nationals and Liberals that “we’ve got to try something different at the next election”.

“Just what is yet to be determined but I made it very clear to the leadership of the Liberal Party and to the public when we made this most recent alliance agreement that this is not a fit-for-purpose agreement for the election,” he said.