NSW Nationals widen rift with move on Liberal seat

The NSW Nationals will sensationally break ranks with the Liberal Party and run a candidate against them in the seat of Port Macquarie at the next election.

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro. Picture: Jeremy Piper

The NSW Nationals will sensationally break ranks with the Liberal Party and run a candidate against them in the seat of Port Macquarie at the next election, a decision that is likely to further inflame tensions between the ­coalition partners and one un­precedented in recent history.

Deputy Premier John Barilaro announced the move during a regional bus tour of the NSW mid-north coast electorate, accusing the Liberal Party of poaching their sitting Nationals member, Leslie Williams, and of calculated attempts to wreak havoc on the coalition partnership.

Ms Williams, the Port Macquarie MP, defected from the ­Nationals to the Liberal Party in September at the height of a feud within the Berejiklian government over koala habitats and planning policies.

At the time, Ms Williams said her decision was based on Mr Barilaro’s handling of the crisis, which included an extraordinary threat to take Nationals MPs to the crossbench over the division and abstain from voting with the government on legislation.

The matter was subsequently defused but Mr Barilaro took four weeks leave from parliament to focus on the recovery of his mental wellbeing. Relations between the coalition partners remain co-operative but strained.

Under the rules of the coalition agreement, the two parties are not supposed to run candidates against each other when ­either party has a sitting member contesting the seat.

Mr Barilaro said his decision, backed by the party, was justified because voters had elected a ­Nationals candidate to represent them and did not count on a ­defection “mid-stream”.

He said doing so would not constitute a violation of the agreement, nor would it affect his relationship with Premier Gladys Berejiklian. The Nationals were expected to preselect a candidate next year, he said.

“The National Party has every right to stand up when we are ­betrayed,” Mr Barilaro said. “The only party that has done any damage to the Coalition is the Liberal Party. The Liberal Party were at the table, actively wooing Leslie to join (them).”

The Nationals leader said he had informed Ms Berejiklian and Deputy Liberal leader Dominic Perrottet of his plan to run a candidate in the seat as a courtesy.

“The Liberal Party did not show that courtesy back to the Nationals when Leslie made that decision.”

Mr Barilaro stopped short of accusing Ms Berejiklian of luring Ms Williams away from the Nationals, but said he had been informed by Liberal MPs that this had in fact occurred.

Ms Berejiklian, Mr Perrottet and Ms Williams did not respond to requests for comment.