Peter Dutton takes the reins, as David Littleproud diminished

Nationals leader David Littleproud and Peter Dutton in question time in Canberra. Picture: Gary Ramage/NCA NewsWire

David Littleproud has emerged as one of Australia’s weakest political leaders with limited support in his own party room and diminishing clout around the shadow cabinet table.

The Nationals leader, who spends more time ranting about pet peeves on morning TV shows than rallying support from colleagues, has been reined-in by the Liberals on his push to break-up supermarket chains and frozen-out of Coalition energy policy development.

After spending months threatening to follow the Greens and dismantle supermarket chain dominance, the former banker didn’t mention the D-word (divestiture) in his statement responding to Craig Emerson’s food and grocery code of conduct interim report on Monday.

Littleproud started winding back his rhetoric last week after it emerged opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor was taking lead on Coalition competition policy.

“Angus Taylor and I are working through this at the moment and while the Nationals support in principle, broader divestiture powers, what we need to understand is that there are nuances to the supermarkets and their market dominance that need to be looked at and some of the existing architecture that’s already there,” Littleproud said last Thursday.

Peter Dutton’s message to colleagues is clear – they will never follow the Greens on economic policy, let alone during a cost-of-living crisis.

Dutton and Taylor want sensible guardrails and economic reality to lead a Coalition “big stick” approach, similar to what was applied to energy companies.

Senior Liberal and Nationals sources say Dutton has performed exceptionally well to get the Coalition close to a 50-50 position following a disastrous 2022 election. But there are concerns a policy vacuum will be filled by a cacophony of backbench commentary and freelancing on major issues.

From nuclear energy to supermarket crackdowns, fractures have emerged as to the best approach to sell Coalition positions. There are concerns the Coalition has not yet put forward a coherent economic narrative.

“The team is behind Dutton 100 per cent. There are conversations about how to best sell the nuclear energy policy and fractures around other policies but everybody is united behind the leader,” a senior Coalition source said.

Peter Dutton and David Littleproud. Picture: Lyndon Mechielsen

Just over one-year out from the 2025 election, Dutton needs to put flesh on the bone explaining what the Coalition stands for. Heading towards and beyond the May 14 budget, Dutton, Taylor and opposition energy spokesman Ted O’Brien will start to fill the void.

“It comes down to what the electorate thinks of us and why. On nuclear energy, there are discussions around how we best mount the case and make the political argument. About how our net-zero emissions trajectory, delivered from a technology agnostic position, is more realistic than Chris Bowen’s blinkered renewables-only vision,” a Coalition source said.

Another Coalition source said “the main show is the economy”.

“There is negative sentiment out there around big business but we have to prove to voters that we are the better economic manager, in addition to being the strongest on national security. The policies will come.”

While there is no threat to Littleproud’s leadership, colleagues believe he doesn’t cut-through and is more “background noise than substance”. Littleproud will be thrown some concessions to buttress his leadership because Dutton has no appetite for any shattering of unity ahead of the 2025 election.