National demand Liberals lock in nuclear, supermarket breakup powers and $20bn regional fund

The Liberals are resisting a push by the Nationals to lock in support for nuclear energy, powers to break up big supermarkets and a $20 billion regional fund as part of a new Coalition agreement.

The Liberals are resisting a push by the Nationals to lock in support for nuclear energy, powers to break up big supermarkets and a $20 billion regional fund as part of a new Coalition agreement.

As post-election talks between the two sides stretch into a fifth day, Liberal leader Sussan Ley is holding firm in her view policy positions are a matter for the party room and are not within the remit of a Coalition deal.

Nationals leader David Littleproud has made a range of policy demands during the Coalition agreement talks. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Emboldened by his party’s relative strength after the Liberals’ election wipe-out, Nationals leader David Littleproud is seeking to secure agreement on a range of commitments from last term.

It is understood this includes support for divestiture powers to break up the big supermarkets if they are anti-competitive, an issue that bitterly divided the Liberal Party room when it was debated last year.

The Nationals want the Liberals to lock in support for divestiture powers. Picture: Asanka Ratnayake/Getty Images

Nuclear energy is also on the list of demands, as is a $20bn Regional Australia Future Fund promised by Peter Dutton at the election.

Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan said keeping this huge off-budget fund was “really important” to the regional MPs who fought for it.

“We do not want to go back to square one,” Mr Hogan told ABC.

But a Liberal source familiar with negotiations said the party strongly believed the Coalition agreement was supposed to settle how roles and portfolios were shared between the two parties, not decide policies.

They said resistance to the Nationals’ demands had nothing to do with whether the Liberals would ultimately support the policies.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley is in talks with the Nationals. Picture: Saeed Khan / AFP

Speaking on Monday morning, Mr Littleproud said Australia “can’t” reach net zero without nuclear energy, but was open to lifting the moratorium to allow the market to fund reactors rather than taxpayers.

Mr Littleproud said the commitment to reach net zero emissions by 2050 was an issue for the Liberals and Nationals to reach consensus on within their own party rooms.

Nuclear energy is also on the Nationals’ list of demands. Picture: Matthieu Rondel/Bloomberg via Getty Images

He said the Nationals policy was to “support” net zero using nuclear to get there, though not necessarily the Dutton-era plan to construct seven reactors with taxpayer money.

“Whether it’s specifically the policy that we took around government-owned or whether it’s simply removing the moratorium on it, I think you have to be pragmatic,” he told Sunrise.

Senior Liberal Senator Jane Hume said her personal view was voters sent a “very clear message” on net zero when they re-elected Labor.

“Abandoning net zero I don’t necessarily think is consistent with that,” Ms Hume told Sky News.

Though she added it was a “discussion for the party room”.

Earlier South Australian Liberal Senator Alex Antic declared the “only way” for the Liberals to rebuild was to dump net zero.

Nationals Queensland Senator Matt Canavan last week contested Mr Littleproud for the party’s leadership running on a platform of ditching net zero.

Though he was defeated, Mr Canavan said he had “accomplished” his mission of getting the prospect of its dumping on the agenda.

Originally published as National demand Liberals lock in nuclear, supermarket breakup powers and $20bn regional fund