The National and Liberal Parties have formally broken their long-held coalition agreement, after failing to find common ground on several key issues. The Liberals claim the nationals wanted the right to vote against coalition policies, while retaining shadow cabinet positions while the nationals say they couldn't agree on issues such as the future of the energy grid.
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00:00I don't think it was certainly expected, Joe, it was a bit of a kind of, hey, is this actually
00:06happening? Because the general thought was there was a bit of like brinkmanship that
00:09was on play here, that the National Party was threatening to walk away, but realistically
00:13they need each other to get to government. So it's kind of like, wait, you're actually
00:16going apart, given, like, it's going to have consequences, like even just take home pay
00:20for the Nationals is going to drop for a bunch of them. But there it is, they're willing
00:24to walk away and we'll see how long it lasts.
00:26So what triggered the split?
00:27Yeah, so we've seen the really sad element that's hung over these negotiations between
00:32David Littleproud and Susan Lee, the National Leader and the Liberal Party leader, is the
00:37death of Susan Lee's mother. It meant Susan Lee travelled to Albury at the end of last week
00:41and was there during the weekend. And there were some negotiations between Susan Lee and
00:45David Littleproud. But ultimately the National Party went into those negotiations and what
00:50you would typically see is the two leaders come together, work out how many seats each
00:55side would have on the front bench, and then work out the portfolios. We knew that the
00:59Nationals wanted an economic portfolio as added, maybe even something, I mean, they'd say Treasury,
01:04but maybe even finance as one that they would willingly accept. But it came with an extra caveat
01:09this time. There were four policy areas that the National Party was putting forward that it
01:13argues it fought for in the last term of opposition and it wanted them carried forward. This was things
01:19like divestiture powers for the supermarkets to break them up if there's any competitive
01:24behaviour, a universal service obligation, which means you get a landline to all households
01:29across the country. Nuclear energy, keeping the commitment. Now, it could have been just
01:35getting rid of the moratorium. It wasn't necessarily saying that the state would have all the four
01:41facilities and then also keeping a future fund for regional infrastructure. The added element
01:47that was just clearly a bridge too far for the Liberal Party was giving the national members
01:53who would sit in the shadow cabinet where policy decided and thrashed out the ability to walk out
01:58of that room and basically trash talk what it is that they've just heard or even vote against
02:02it. That clearly breaks down any convention you would typically see. David Littleproud is essentially
02:07saying that this is now a time for his party to go and work through its policies and put them forward
02:13and potentially come back with the Liberals at a future time. Here's David Littleproud.
02:18The door is still open in that we do have time to sort this out and allow the Liberal Party,
02:23who are going under a process of self-reflection of their party. Over the last two elections,
02:30they've lost over 30 seats. They're going to do that and I think this creates an environment
02:34for them to do that. But we don't want to walk away from the things that are important. I don't
02:38want to have three years of trying to go back and fight and to look backwards. I want to look forward.
02:43I want to look forward and build on those policy foundation stones and to go and listen and
02:48understand to regional Australians what more they want us to do. And Brett, do you think this makes
02:53sense or not for the Nats? Because obviously if they were going to be talking through these policy
02:59positions over the next several weeks, it was going to be really divisive because there are
03:04Nats with really strong views who probably weren't going to be able to stay quiet. And it kind of makes
03:10sense for them to be apart for a while while they sort themselves out. Yeah, I mean, it's a difficult
03:16situation where it's three years until the next election. So what happens between now and three
03:21years time, who even knows? And it's very likely the parties will come closer together. So there is this
03:25possibility where they can work out, get their ducks in a row. But if it is, you've got these core
03:29problems that the National Party is unwilling to back away from, it does create, it does kick the
03:35problem down the road, essentially, of like, when you will at some point work out what the policy will
03:40be in terms of nuclear energy. Now, that might be an easy one to fix. And the broader National Party
03:45demands might be easy ones with which the Liberal Party is willing to get on board. But I suspect this
03:50idea that you could go into the shadow cabinet and then not have cabinet solidarity will be a real
03:55point of tension in whatever a new look opposition could be. And so what's Susan Lee's take on this?
04:01Well, it's a real test of her leadership right in the in the first days. We saw how fractured
04:05parts of the Liberal Party is. She got across the line by by four votes. If Susan Lee had have just
04:10capitulated to the Nationals right from the start, you imagine that makes it a really difficult time
04:14for her to retain that leadership when there's no shortage of people pointing out that after when
04:19July rolls around, the party room potentially becomes a bit more in favour of Angus Taylor. But it also
04:25creates an opportunity for Susan Lee and Liberals who, not saying Susan Lee here, Liberals who feel
04:31that the tail has been wagging the dog for a long time here, that it's the Liberal Party that has been
04:36faring worst out of the coalition because they've been losing their heartland seats. And that Liberals
04:41can work out what they stand for and then go forward as the major party here within the coalition.
04:46And if the National Party wants to get on board closer to the election, then they're willing to have that
04:50conversation then. But for the time being, they need to reconnect with their base. Here is Susan Lee.
04:55Susan Lee It is disappointing
04:58that the National Party has decided today to leave the coalition. But the most important thing I want
05:04to say is this. The Nationals' door remains open and our door remains open. And we look forward with
05:12optimism to rejoining at some point in the future. And as David and I left today, we agreed that he
05:20and I would continue to meet regularly and to talk, because we have much in common. And we both have
05:26a big job to do to take the fight up to Labor.
05:29And Brett, practically, what does this mean for the operation of parliament and for journalists
05:34covering things now? Are there going to be two opposition spokesmen for every portfolio?
05:39Well, it becomes really interesting. So the way the parliament works is the second biggest party
05:44gets the official opposition status. So that means Susan Lee and the Liberal Party, not the coalition,
05:49will be the federal opposition. The front bench that Susan Lee will determine will be all Liberals.
05:55They will all get the 25% increase in their pay. And the opposition spokesperson for trade,
06:00which was a Nat in the last parliament, is now going to be a Liberal. So it creates this
06:04interesting situation for the Nats, where they might have had their phone being called by journalists
06:09or by stakeholders because they were leading a policy area. That call is now going to a Liberal.
06:13The Nationals will essentially be like the Greens, sit on part of the crossbench. They won't be tied
06:19necessarily to the Liberal Party, but they say they will work together. At a broader numbers game,
06:24it's 93 Labor politicians that are going to be there, 28 Liberal in the opposition and then 15
06:31in the Nats. So votes are going through the House of Representatives. That's going to be fine.
06:34In the Senate though, this potentially creates an opportunity for Anthony Albanese.
06:38On the numbers, he can either use the Greens to pass legislation, he can use the Liberal Party,
06:43or now if he's really adventurous and wants to walk the ideological spectrum, he could find the
06:47the Nats of four votes and then run the bulk of the crossbench, which does range from David
06:52Pocock and Lydia Thorpe at one end to Ralph Babbitt and One Nation at the other. If he gets the bulk
06:56of those, he can pass legislation. So maybe it will be a bit more exciting than we were originally
07:00expecting. Yeah, it might be exciting on the ABC phone board when, I think you just said the Nats
07:08are going to be like the Greens. I think there are a few National Party MPs. It's just a different
07:13tinge of the same colour. It's fine. It's going to shiver down their spine.