David Littleproud takes swipe at Peter Dutton over campaign pitch

Nationals leader David Littleproud says the Coalition’s failure to neuter Labor criticism of its planned tilt towards taxpayer-funded nuclear power led to electoral defeat.

Nationals leader David Littleproud, pictured with deputy leader Kevin Hogan and Senate leader Bridget McKenzie. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Nationals leader David Littleproud has taken a veiled swipe at Peter Dutton, saying the ­Coalition campaign’s failure to neuter Labor criticism of its planned tilt towards taxpayer-funded nuclear power led to the Liberal’s crushing electoral defeat.

On Wednesday, Mr Littleproud found himself under pressure over the Nationals’ decision to abandon talks on a renewed Coalition agreement, following Liberal leader Sussan Ley’s refusal to immediately endorse four key Nationals policy demands.

Instead, Ms Ley has announced the Liberals will conduct a review of policies – many of which proved deeply unpopular – in an effort to modernise the party and make it a viable election fighting force.

Asked whether the Coalition’s path back to government relied on the Liberals regaining ground in urban electorates, Mr Littleproud denied the Nationals had been a “drag on votes” in the cities and pinned blame on the ­Coalition’s poor communication of its nuclear energy policy.

“We couldn’t sell that. We didn’t sell that. We weren’t agile enough,” Mr Littleproud told ABC Radio on Wednesday.

While the Coalition put the total system cost of its nuclear rollout at $330bn, Labor pounced on modelling from the renew­ables-focused Smart Energy Council, which said the opposition’s plan would saddle taxpayers with a $600bn bill.

Mr Littleproud also criticised the Coalition’s mooted office attendance mandate for federal bureaucrats, branding the oppo­sition’s backflip on the proposal as a “fiasco” and claiming it had “hurt” its election prospects.

“In reflection [when] we look at this, I think we’ve got to be brutally honest with ourselves about why we lost,” he added.

Peter Dutton. Picture: AFP

“When you look at where the polls were at Christmas time, and you see where they shifted, I think the Labor Party were able to make Peter Dutton unelect­able, and what they couldn’t do is put a vote next to him, and they held their nose and put a vote next to Anthony Albanese.”

Earlier, Mr Littleproud suggested his party colleagues were prepared to sit on the backbench indefinitely if the Liberal Party didn’t meet its policy demands in the formation of a future ­coalition agreement.

“If we get to a juncture after the next election where we can form a government with the Liberal Party, then obviously we’re going to support the Liberal Party but there will be conditions. The conditions are about those things that are core to making the lives of those people that we represent better and giving them a future,” he said, pointing to four policy ultimatums he had issued to Ms Ley, including on nuclear energy and supermarket divestiture.

Pressed whether these ultimatums were responsible, Mr Littleproud defended his approach, saying he wanted to “preserve and protect” the Nationals’ core principles. “We made this from a principle position about what we want to do for regional Australia to make sure that they have a voice and they get their fair share,” he said.