After all that will-they-won’t-they drama that kept us on our toes for the last week, the Liberals and Nationals have confirmed they’re getting the band back together, and that a Coalition is on the cards again.
On Wednesday, it was confirmed Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud struck an agreement to rejoin the Coalition. The agreement followed a virtual Nationals party room meeting in the morning.
Party sources said Ley is in the process of hitting up MPs to inform them if they will be in the new shadow cabinet, per the Sydney Morning Herald.
A press conference is expected later today, when a new frontbench comprising members of both parties will be revealed. This is expected to be made up of 14 Liberals and six Nationals.
Last Tuesday, Nationals leader David Littleproud announced the party was pulling the plug on the long-standing alliance, over four policy issues the party demanded be kept. To recap, these were: Regional Australia Future Fund, a commitment to nuclear energy, break-up powers for the supermarket sector, and better mobile connectivity in the bush.
Days later, the Liberal Party agreed in principle those policies would not be included in its sweeping review of the Coalition’s election loss.
The Liberals and Nationals have since gotten on the same page to not pursue their election commitment to build seven nuclear power plants, but will continue to push to lift the national ban on nuclear power, per ABC News.
Another point of contention leading to the split was reportedly the Nationals refusing to adhere to shadow cabinet solidarity (which basically means frontbenchers will stick with the opposition’s agreed policy, sometimes even if its not in line with their own personal views.)
This was denied by Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie, and in some trademark break-up messiness, Liberal leader Ley even claimed she has receipts.
Ultimately both parties pushed back planned announcements on Thursday about their shadow cabinets and portfolio allocations (as in, who will oversee what departments as the opposition) while senior figures were locked in last-minute negotiations to hash things out.
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