Sussan Ley confident she will survive as opposition leader and says door is open to Nationals rejoining Coalition | Coalition

Sussan Ley says she is sticking to the position of potential leadership rivals Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie as speculation grows about an imminent challenge to the embattled Liberal leader.

A day after National Party leader David Littleproud split the Coalition and said his party would not serve under Ley’s leadership, the opposition leader told Channel Seven on Friday he expected to remain at the top.

When asked if he could survive as leader, Ley said: “Yes, I will.”

He said he remained open to the possibility of another compromise with Littleproud and the Nationals. Senior Liberal sources revealed Ley’s leadership was almost over on Thursday following the second Coalition split in eight months sparked by a dispute over Labor’s hate speech laws.

“My focus is always on the Australian people, so I just want to say that the door is not closed, but I’m not keeping my eye on the door either,” Ley said.

“I’ve been keeping an eye on my team’s work over the summer to hold the government to account over the spending scandals, dragging Bondi, kicking and screaming at the royal commission…”

In another interview, Ley was asked if he was worried about a challenge from Hastie or Taylor, both conservatives. He said they were “strong, determined members of my team.”

Former Nationals leader Michael McCormack told Guardian Australia it was unfortunate that Littleproud this week described the Coalition under Ley as “untenable”.

He said he hoped the two parties would compromise “sooner rather than later.”

McCormack, a former deputy prime minister, helped reunite the Liberals and Nationals after a brief split in May last year and has been a supporter of Littleproud’s leadership.

“I think it’s unfortunate that a comment of this magnitude was made,” he said.

“The Liberal party leadership is entirely a matter for the Liberal party and I would never recommend anything about a Liberal party leader.”

Littleproud weighed in on Friday, continuing to blame Ley for the split and claiming he was trying to “prevent it.”

The national leader said it was not up to him to determine who the Liberal leader was, despite comments yesterday that he would not work with Ley.

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The split comes after National Senators Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell took to the floor to vote on Tuesday, breaking with the Coalition’s stance on legislation drafted in the wake of the Bondi terror attack.

Warning Ley that accepting the trio’s resignation would lead to the National Party going on strike, Littleproud said the party’s door was “open”.

“I said we could not serve in the ministry of Sussan Ley, who accepted the resignations of three senators who should not have been accepted. There was a way not to accept,” he said.

Ley’s deputy, shadow treasurer Ted O’Brien, said he expected her to remain leader.

“I know there’s been a lot of commentary on that… yeah, that’s what he’s going to do,” O’Brien told ABC radio.

“I support reuniting the coalition because it serves the national interest. It’s the only way to get the country back in the right direction.”

“But you can’t form a Coalition without making any commitment. It takes a rock-solid commitment to work together as one team.”

Some Liberal MPs privately told Guardian Australia they did not want the Coalition to rejoin and said the National party should be “severely punished”.

“Some of us on our side say: I was speaking strongly to keep the coalition together. [the last time]but not anymore,” said one Liberal MP.

Another Liberal MP said it would be “reckless and foolhardy” to bow to the National Party’s demands and replace Ley.

Firebrand conservative senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who switched from the National party room to the Liberals after the election, continued to criticize Ley’s leadership.

“I made it clear that the leader had lost his trust, his belief in me, and I think I felt the same at the time,” he told Sky News on Thursday night.

“I don’t think things are getting better.”

Some Liberals say a challenge is more likely when MPs return to Canberra in the first week of February. If two MPs petition the party for a vote, a special meeting could be held to consider the leadership leak.