Coalition to reunite after Sussan Ley brokers deal with David Littleproud to end second split | Coalition
The Coalition is on the verge of reuniting after Sussan Ley struck a deal with David Littleproud to bring the Liberals and Nationals back together.
The opposition leader is expected to announce a deal to reform the Coalition in less than three weeks after a dispute over Labor’s hate speech laws has divided the parties for the second time in eight months.
Ley had given the National Party until this Monday to regroup with the Liberals before forming a permanent, Liberal-only front bench that would cement the divide.
A Liberal source familiar with the negotiations said the two parties would agree to reunify just before parliament restarts on Monday.
But all former Nationals frontbenchers will be removed from the shadow ministry by March.
Littleproud and Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan would continue to attend shadow cabinet and other senior leadership meetings throughout the term, even though they were not technically frontbenchers.
The agreement represents a compromise from both leaders, whose standing among their colleagues has been damaged in this complex saga.
Ley last week offered to reconvene with the National Party, but only if the three Nationals Senators who took to the floor on Labor’s hate speech laws – Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell – served a six-month suspension from the backbenches.
But Littleproud, who initially said the Coalition was “untenable” under Ley, was adamant that the Nationals had done nothing wrong and should not be punished for it.
Late last week, the Nationals’ stance softened, with the party acknowledging that all former front-runners, not just the three senators, would accept short suspensions.
However, the Nationals wanted to remain separate from the Liberals throughout this period.
At the time, multiple Liberal sources speaking on condition of anonymity said the Nationals’ offer was not considered a serious proposal and would likely be rejected unless it was revised.
The two leaders held further talks on Friday and Saturday to try to salvage the deal, and Ley briefed the Liberal leadership team on his decision on Saturday night.
Appearing on Nine’s Weekend Today on Sunday morning, Littleproud did not pre-empt an announcement but was hopeful “there will be a Coalition in the near future”.
“Because that’s the only way to bring down Anthony Albanese,” he said.
The prospect of reuniting the coalition has divided the Liberals and put more pressure on Ley, who is struggling to retain his leadership.
While former Liberal prime minister John Howard and senior conservatives intervened publicly to advocate for compromise, others, including many moderates, were content to remain outside the National Party for a while.
Forming an all-Liberal front would allow Ley to appoint six MPs to the shadow cabinet and two MPs to the shadow ministry.
The appointments could help bolster his domestic position as Conservative rival Angus Taylor weighs up a leadership challenge next week.
In his clearest public statement of his intentions on Friday, Taylor said he still had leadership ambitions but insisted there were “no plans” for a spill next week.
“I’m not going to tell you and your listeners that I didn’t have leadership ambitions and I didn’t have them. I clearly did. You know, that’s why I stood for the leadership last time,” he told 2GB.
