Coalition to reunite as feuding leaders strike deal
The federal Liberal and National parties are set to reunite after an acrimonious three-week split.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley and her National Party counterpart David Littleproud have agreed to restore senior citizens to the front bench who have been sacked or sacked for breaching solidarity agreements on hate speech laws.
An announcement confirming the reunion was expected on Sunday; In this announcement the coalition would be re-formed and all former frontbenchers of the National Party would return to the shadow cabinet.
Mr Littleproud has proposed that all former National shadow ministers spend two weeks in the backbenchers, while a proposal put forward earlier by Ms Ley would see them spend six months in the sin bin.
Liberal sources confirmed to AAP that a six-week compromise on the backbench, dating back to a mass resignation on January 21, had ended the impasse.
Mr Littleproud and Deputy National Leader Kevin Hogan will immediately re-engage in leadership meetings and shadow cabinet processes.
The National Party initially proposed keeping the coalition apart for six weeks.
Leaders are also expected to sign an agreement codifying the shadow cabinet solidarity agreement, under which frontbenchers will resign their positions if they vote against the agreed position of the joint Liberal-National party chamber.
The written agreement makes clear that the joint party chamber has priority over the individual National and Liberal party chambers and addresses the conflict that triggered the split.
Three national election frontrunners – Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald – voted against Labour’s hate speech laws, in line with a party resolution but in defiance of the agreed shadow cabinet position to vote in favour.
The trio then tendered their resignations to Ms Ley, who accepted.
But the move sparked a furious backlash from Mr Littleproud and the Nationals, who resigned en masse from the shadow cabinet, causing the coalition to collapse.
Asked about the possibility of reconvening on Sunday morning, the National Party leader said he would not make any announcements in advance, but blamed Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for the divide by rushing the vote on hate speech laws.
He told Nine’s Today programme: “The truth is that none of us were given proper time because of the deadlines Anthony Albanese gave us to vote on the free speech bill.”
Ms Ley gave the Nationals until Sunday to respond to a bid to revive the coalition before shadow cabinet positions go to the Liberals.
The reunification took place during a seismic shift in Australia’s right-wing political landscape; The smaller party, One Nation, has outperformed its former coalition partners in some polls.
But tensions between the Liberals and Nationals remain high.
Liberal MPs were angered by Mr Littleproud’s insistence that the two parties could not reunite with Ms Ley at the helm of her senior coalition partner, seeing it as an unwelcome interference in the party’s internal affairs.
Opposition industrial relations spokesman Tim Wilson did not confirm reports that the coalition had reconvened but said significant steps had been taken based on his discussions.
He told Sky News: “I’m hopeful that there’s a way in which we can refocus Labor and that should be our aim.”
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