Olive branches offered for possible coalition reunion
Kat Wong, Tess Ikonomou and Andrew Brown |
The Nationals and Liberals are back at the negotiating table, signalling the possibility of a coalition make up just days after its shock split.
Both parties revealed they will delay the announcement of their shadow cabinet and portfolio allocations after their leaders re-entered negotiations in a bid to mend the coalition’s relationship.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley said she had met with her National Party counterpart on Thursday and applauded his decision to return to the table.
“It has always been the Liberal Party’s objective to form a coalition and we welcome the Nationals’ decision to re-enter negotiations,” she said in a statement.
The two have already resolved a sticking point over shadow cabinet solidarity, which binds members to publicly support collective decisions, even if they disagree internally.
“I welcome it as a foundation to resolve other matters,” Ms Ley said.
An urgent party room meeting has been called for the Liberals.
Nationals leader David Littleproud said he would delay his portfolio announcements to give the Liberals more time to discuss his party’s policy requests after blowing up the coalition’s decades-long partnership this week.
“This is a positive step forward – one in which we’ve always said we’d be productive and constructive,” Mr Littleproud told reporters in Canberra.
“We didn’t do what we did on Tuesday lightly – it was a tough decision, a huge decision, and we, in a sign of good faith, have made it clear that I’m prepared to pause my announcement today.”
The Nationals allege the break up occurred because they could not secure commitments on key policies including support for nuclear energy, divestiture powers for supermarkets, a regional Australia future fund and reliable telco coverage in rural areas.
Though about a quarter of the Nationals party room disagreed with the decision to split, Mr Littleproud said the final choice was about taking a stand on issues that mattered to their constituents.
But Liberals wanted to create opportunity to discuss all policies after the coalition was dealt a thumping election defeat on May 3.
The party also said the relationship collapsed due to a disagreement over shadow cabinet solidarity, with some noting a refusal could create a situation where coalitions spokespeople would vote differently on legislation.
With both the Liberals and Nationals previously expected to unveil their shadow cabinet positions by the end of the week, the decision to postpone could have saved them from heartbreak further down the road.
Had Ms Ley made her announcement, only to reconcile with the coalition some months later, she would have had to boot a number of Liberal politicians from portfolio positions.
Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce hoped the situation would be resolved but noted some aspects remained unclear.
“It seems to be a bit of a bouncing ball,” he told Sky News.
“But why would you hope for a less-than-effective capacity to hold the government to account, and to be quite frank, chaos?”
The most recent coalition break up in 1987 lasted only a few months, and then-Nationals leader Ian Sinclair has told AAP such a split was “quite a healthy thing”.
AAP
