Matt Canavan says the Coalition ‘probably could have worked things out’ with better communication

Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says if there had been more communication with the Liberal Party “we could probably have gotten things done” after the Coalition split this week over the effects of Anthony Albanese’s Bondi reform package.

It comes after leader David Littleproud faced a combative interview with Sky News Sunday Agenda on Sunday morning; During this interview he refused to deny allegations that he shouted at Opposition Leader Sussan Ley, ordering her to resign.

“No, look, I’m not going to get into these make-believe little games, it’s just nonsense,” said Mr Littleproud.

“I’m not going to get into games with any type of conversation, both private and where other people, my colleagues, are present.”

Asked whether he denied telling Ms Ley she should resign, Mr Littleproud was evasive.

“I’m not going to get into conversations one way or another; it’s just nonsense,” he said.

Speaking later on Sky News, Mr Canavan defended the National Party leader’s decision “not to engage in private conversations” but admitted “the last week has been difficult” when asked if he still had confidence in Mr Littleproud.

“It’s been difficult and it’s not something we expected. It’s not something I thought would happen in a week,” he said.

“It’s very difficult – Look, I can’t judge what happened in the communication between the leaders because I wasn’t there. I just wasn’t there.”

“I think it is regrettable that we did not have a joint party room meeting this week for the first time in my political career (11.5 years).”

Mr Canavan said he did not know why the joint party room had not been created and said it would be “good to be able to speak frankly to all my Liberal colleagues”.

“In our conversations since this week’s events, I know that many are not aware of the precise nature of the National Party’s concerns; this is not surprising given that we have not had a joint party room meeting,” he said.

“I think if there had been more communication we probably could have resolved the issues.”

He continued: “So if we had had more time to communicate things with people, maybe things would have been different.”

Despite last week’s disaster, Mr Canavan said the party’s “core objectives” had not changed, as he was dogged by questions about a possible three-way coalition with One Nation.

“We are a small party, there is no doubt about that,” he said.

“However, we have made a huge impact throughout our century of existence, and I am confident that we will continue to make that impact regardless of our future relationship with other parties.”

He denied that the National Party had said the party would not work with some Liberal leaders; He simply said they couldn’t work with Ms Ley because Ley “said she couldn’t work with shadow ministers who voted against these laws”.

The rift in the coalition was revealed this week when three shadow cabinet National senators resigned after voting against hate speech reforms.

Ms Ley accepted their resignation in accordance with convention, but doing so sparked a row with Mr Littleproud, who said his party’s alliance with the Liberals was over.

Speaking to Sky, Mr Littleproud said the National Party had “done nothing wrong” and that they wanted “to get to a position where we can keep the Coalition together”.