Malcolm Turnbull says he will give the Nationals two additional frontbench spots in his looming ministerial reshuffle and has signalled he will dig in behind the Coalition’s superannuation changes despite continuing backbench dissent.
The prime minister said on Wednesday he would agree to the Nationals’ demand for two extra frontbench spots, which followed the party’s strong showing in the election.
Asked whether the Nationals would get the two places they were seeking, Turnbull gave an unequivocal answer: “As you know, my esteemed predecessor and mentor John Howard said politics is governed by the iron laws of arithmetic, and plainly the Nationals have a larger percentage of the Coalition party room after the election than they did beforehand – so the answer to that is yes.”
Acceding to this demand limits the prime minister’s scope to accommodate the government’s conservative faction in the looming reshuffle, although it is likely the Nationals will seek to promote the Queensland senator Matt Canavan, who hails from the conservative wing.
Turnbull has been under internal pressure to promote two conservative up-and-comers, Zed Seselja and Michael Sukkar, but he is not in a position to expand the size of the ministry to accommodate all the various demands.
The confirmation of the additional representation for the Nationals came in the middle of negotiations on Wednesday between Turnbull and Barnaby Joyce about the new Coalition agreement.
Turnbull moved to play down the notion that he would agree to a new policy wishlist from the Nationals. He agreed to a series of policy demands from the Coalition partner when he took the Liberal leadership from Tony Abbott last September, but he sent a strong signal on Wednesday he did not intend to repeat that.
The prime minister told reporters the government’s policies had been taken to voters in the election and future policies would be determined in the usual way by the cabinet and the party room.
The Coalition agreement was about process, he said. “Our policies are in the platform we took to the election. If you want to know what our agreement on policy is, look at what we took to the election.
“Any changes to policy, or any new policies, will be made in the normal way by the cabinet, and then endorsed by the Coalition party room in the normal way.”
Turnbull expressed confidence that the government would be able to claim 77 seats in the House of Representatives by the close of counting.
The Liberal MP Ewen Jones pulled ahead in the Queensland seat of Herbert on Wednesday afternoon before falling backwards later in the day. If Herbert falls to the Coalition it will be the government’s 77th seat.
The possible majority of two is supplemented by separate agreements on confidence and supply from the independents Bob Katter and Cathy McGowan.
Turnbull is intent on projecting a sense that the government is now back to work. He has been briefed this week by his departmental head, Martin Parkinson, and cabinet’s national security meeting has taken place.
But the prime minister faces dissent in his own ranks, with the a flashpoint the Coalition’s superannuation policy, which some government MPs have opposed since it was unveiled in the May budget.
The Liberals will meet in Canberra on Monday for the first time since the election, and concerns about super are expected to be raised.
A group of MPs is concerned that the policy hits the Coalition base, although there is no clear evidence that it cost the government votes in blue-ribbon seats. Superannuation is something of a proxy war in government ranks for other tensions surrounding the leadership and the looming ministerial reshuffle.
On Wednesday, after several days of reports about backbench dissent, senior players lined up behind the policy.
Asked whether he would be prepared to compromise on the budget measures on super, the prime minister said the government had a clear mandate for its economic program. “We’ll be presenting our budget measures in the same manner that we took them to the election,” Turnbull said.
He did leave open room for future adjustment by pointing out that the government lacked a majority in the Senate. “Obviously we don’t have a majority in the Senate, as you know, there is always debate and sometimes compromise … but we took a very clear position to the election, and that’s what we will be presenting.”
Turnbull was asked whether he would proceed with the marriage equality plebiscite and with the industrial relations bills that were the double dissolution triggers. There has been pressure from some conservative MPs to push back the plebiscite but Turnbull appeared to hold firm. “All of the policies we took to the election we will deliver.”
