Coalition over: Nats and Liberals to split

Nationals leader David Littleproud says he and Liberals leader Sussan Ley have decided not to renew the Coalition’s agreement following their shocking electoral defeat.

The Liberals and Nationals will split after failing to reach a new coalition agreement.

Following a meeting on Tuesday morning to either broker a new agreement or part ways, Nationals Party leader David Littleproud said the two parties would go their own way.

“This morning, after the discussions that both Sussan Ley and I have had over the ensuing period, our party room has got to a position where we will not be re-entering a Coalition agreement with the Liberal Party after this election,” he said, later adding there was “no animosity, no angst, no heat” in his coversations with Ms Ley.

It appears the split has been forced by the Nationals, who were refusing to give up a suite of policies taken to the election.

Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan said he hoped the two parties would reunite “sooner rather than later, but we need to make, for us, a principled stand on things today that we could not move on”.

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie revealed a push for divestiture powers, nuclear power and a $20bn Regional Australia Future Fund were major points of contention between the two parties.

“A reasonable request was put to a trusted partner and it was refused,” she said. “Why in this day and age, we think that anti-trust laws are so onerous, it beggars belief. If supermarkets and big box retailers misuse their market power, just like in the UK and the USA, they should be subjected to divestiture.”

The Coalition has parted ways three times in the past century.

Mr Littleproud said he made it clear to Ms Ley “the door would remain open”.

“She is a leader that needs to rebuild the Liberal Party. They are going on a journey of rediscovery, and this will provide them the opportunity to do that without the spectre of the National Party imposing their will,” he Littleproud said.

Leader of The Nationals, David Littleproud, tells reporters the Nationals and the Liberal Party would not renew their Coalition agreement. Picture: SKY News

Mr Littleproud said the Nationals would now focus on changing the lives of regional Australians.

“At this juncture, we’re making a principled position about not what we’re prepared to give up on, but to build on what we achieved and to move forward. So, it’s with great disappointment that I announce that we’re not going to form part of that Coalition. We’ll be pragmatic, and we’ll work constructively with Sussan and her team to make sure that we bring down the Albanese government after the next election.”

Reaching a new Coalition agreement on front bench positions is standard practice for the Coalition following an election.

Ahead of Tuesday’s meeting, the Nationals were aggressively pushing for more frontbench positions given its stronger representation within the Coalition.

All Lower House Nationals MPs held onto their electorates, while the Liberal Party lost seven seats.

In recent days there has been speculation that the Nationals were pushing to review a commitment to net zero emissions by 2050 and wanted to stay the course with their controversial plan to build seven nuclear reactors across the country, potentially posing issues for a Liberal Party in the midst of reassessing its identity.