On Tuesday 20th May, David Littleproud, leader of the National Party, announced that his party would not re-enter a Coalition agreement with the Liberal Party, marking the first split of the Liberal-National Party (LNP) since 1987.
The next session of parliament will be on 1st July. This means the decision will become irrevocable, unless Littleproud reverses it.
This change means that the Nationals will form a minor party and sit separately to the Liberals. The Liberals will become the Opposition, as the largest non-government political party.
Littleproud visited Sussan Ley, minted leader of the Liberal Party, at her home in Albury on 15th May while she was looking after her mother.
The dissolution was made on the grounds that Ley would not unwaveringly support the four policies that the Nationals considered non-negotiable. These are supporting nuclear energy, the $20 regional Future Fund, the forced divestiture of supermarkets, and ensuring phone service in regional areas through the Universal Service obligations.
Ley declared in her opening speech as Liberal Party leader that all party policies were up for discussion. She commented on 20th May: “As was explained to The Nationals, the Liberal Party’s review of election policies was not an indication that any one of them would be abandoned, nor that every single one would be adopted.”
Liberal staff spoke to The Australian revealing that the apparent “real” reason for the split was that Littleproud had demanded the right to a free vote for his shadow cabinet ministers, and the right to oppose the vote of the Liberals. The previous status quo was that frontbenchers would be bound to support party decisions.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers called the dissolution “a nuclear meltdown”. He added, “the Coalition is now nothing more than a smoking ruin.”
The Liberal-National Coalition has existed in some form since 1923, with occasional periods where the party broke up or contested federal elections as two distinct parties, which occurred in 1934 and 1987.
In the House of Representatives where the Australian Labor Party (ALP) holds a comfortable majority of 82 seats as confirmed by the Australian Electoral Commission, this will not make a substantive difference. The ALP does not need the support of the Liberals or Nationals to pass legislation.
However, in the Senate, Labor holds less power. Labor has 28 seats, while the Greens have 11, and the Liberals and Nationals had 26 seats when they were elected as a Coalition.
Labor will need the support of either the Greens or the Liberals to pass legislation in the Senate, and if those parties both oppose, the ALP will need the support of the Nationals and crossbench.
Both Ley and Littleproud have signalled that they may be willing to work together in the future. Littleproud commented on the benefits of a “journey of self-discovery” for the Liberal Party.
Meanwhile, Ley said that while Littleproud’s announcement was “disappointing”, she added that “The Nationals’ door remains open, and our door remains open.”
