Coalition in crisis; David Littleproud’s letter to Sussan Ley revealed; split on cards

Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie said after taking to the floor that her resignation from the shadow cabinet was appropriate but suggested Opposition Leader Sussan Ley could still reject her offer to resign.

“I have always lived my political career with integrity – I have tried to be that – and so the appropriate thing is to offer to resign and then a leader has the option of accepting your resignation or not,” McKenzie told 2GB radio this morning.

“In this case, Sussan Ley accepted our resignations despite the fact that our leader, David Littleproud, had made it clear in a letter to her yesterday morning that if she accepted our resignations, the shadow ministry of the National Party would also resign because it was not a meaningless decision.”

Senators Ross Cadell, Susan McDonald and McKenzie voted against the hate crimes bill on Tuesday, breaking with the Coalition’s official position on the bill. Last night, all National Party members left the shadow cabinet in solidarity.

Asked today whether Ley was “cracking the ball in here”, McKenzie said: “I’m not going to criticize my colleagues who are trying to do the right thing. I think the problem here is that he’s letting the Prime Minister off the hook.”