Australian news and politics live: Anthony Albanese on shock Coalition split and Tony Abbott’s stark warning

Nationals Leader David Littleproud has detailed the “guarantee” that Liberal Leader Sussan Ley couldn’t give, which led to the Coalition split.

“I respect the fact that Susan wanted to, and in her right to, go back to her party room on all policies, but those that we took (to the election), we weren’t asking for new policies.

“We’re asking for those to be protected.

“When I could not get a guarantee, a guarantee that I asked her to be able to articulate and I put to her party room, to my party room, to be able to make sure I didn’t misrepresent anything in terms of what she could or could not guarantee, we got to the decision that there was no guarantee that we could secure those (policies) so what are we to do?

“What are we to do?

“I respect that the Liberal Party wanted to go through a process of their own, but the National Party should not have to walk away from what would change the lives of the people we represent.

“Why would I walk away? Why would a political party walk away from saving people’s lives and making people’s lives in the places that we represent better?”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said despite the “mess” of the Coalition at the election and after their split, Labor aren’t taking anything for granted.

Dr Chalmers said while the Labor Government celebrated its recent win and the Opposition was experiencing its own dramatic internal reshuffling, he issued cautionary words for Labor MPs not to get ahead of themselves.

“I genuinely believe that things change quickly in politics, we’re not getting ahead of ourselves,” he told Nine’s Today Show on Wednesday.

“Our working assumption is that elections are typically close.

“In this country, the last one notwithstanding, was a better result than what most people were anticipating.

“We don’t underestimate our political opponents, and we don’t focus on them. You know, yesterday was a big event. It was a shambles, it was a mess, but it wasn’t our focus.

“My focus yesterday was on this interest rate decision, which will provide welcome relief for millions of Australian families.

We’ll continue to focus on the things that really matter to people, even while our political opponents continue to focus on themselves.”

Nationals Leader David Littleproud has said the party needs the Liberals while defending the decision to step away from the Coalition.

“There needs to be mutual respect for the policies that are dear to us,” Mr Littleproud said.

He said those policies, which the Nationals took to the election, were “basic things for people in regional Australia”.

He claimed simple things like protecting mobile reception in regional areas, regional childcare access and training of doctors and nurses were issues he was “not going to walk away from”.

“It might be foreign to many commentators and to those that aren’t here, but that’s why I was sent here.

“I want to work constructively with the Liberal Party to be in Coalition, and we need each other, but ultimately, we can only get things done if they understand the seriousness of what these policies would do for regional Australia.

“This isn’t anything other than a principal decision about us standing up for the people who sent us here, and if we don’t do that, we won’t be here.

“That’s what my party room decided yesterday was the best way to do.”

Liberal senator Michaelia Cash firmly rejected National Party leader David Littleproud’s claim his decision to walk away from the Coalition was on policy, saying it was “an issue over process”.

She slammed the Nationals intentions not to fall in line with shadow cabinet solidarity as “an untenable request”, saying it must be maintained.

“David Littleproud also wanted national members of the shadow cabinet to be allowed to vote differently and against liberal party members. This was an untenable request,” she said.

She said Opposition Leader Sussan Ley could not make unilateral “captain’s calls” on policy before conducting thorough election reviews and consultations.

She stressed that the Liberals’ timeline for policy development should not be dictated by the National Party.

“This is not an argument over policy, it is an issue over process.”

“And in particular, process in relation to discussions and consultations and then policy formation following what was a resounding election defeat.”

Newly elected Nationals Deputy Kevin Hogan has revealed bombshell claims that the party “wasn’t unanimous” in its decision to step away from the Coalition with the Liberal Party.

“It wasn’t unanimous, but it was quite conclusive,” Mr Hogan told Sky News on Wednesday morning.

“I didn’t make this decision.”

Despite the decision not being unanimous, Mr Hogan said it was a group call.

“David Littleproud didn’t make this decision. Bridget McKenzie didn’t make this decision. The party room made this decision,” he said.

The Coalition split keeps getting messier after Nationals senator Matt Canavan was ditched by deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien on live TV.

Today host Karl Stefanovic said Mr O’Brien had agreed to appear alongside Mr Canavan on the show out of courtesy but bailed just minutes before the pair were set to go on air.

“We asked deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien on the show last night, and he agreed this morning, out of courtesy,” Stefanovic said.

“We told him Matt Canavan was coming on to all seemed okay. And then 20 minutes ago, his team, team rang saying he won’t come on with Canavan.

“I mean, you can’t make it up. It’s like maths.”

Read the full story here.

Liberal candidate Tim Wilson has declared victory for the highly-contested seat of Goldstein for a second time, after emerging as the leader by a margin of just 128 votes.

Mr Wilson lost the seat in 2022 to Teal opponent Zoe Daniel, who declared victory on May 3 after early counting leaned heavily in her favour.

But a surge in postal votes the following days swung the pendulum back into blue-ribbon territory, with the seat called for Mr Wilson on May 7.

A full distribution of preferences will now be conducted by the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC), which could result in the 0.06 per cent margin on the two-candidate count changing.

Read the full story here.

Jane Hume has told Sunrise that the Nationals wanted the ability to walk out of Cabinet and that became a major sticking point ahead of the Coalition split.

“A review is entirely the right decision but there was also another sticking point too, which was around Cabinet solidarity,” Ms Hume said

“The Nationals wanted the ability to essentially dissent in Cabinet to walk out of Cabinet with some people with one view and some people with another.

“That’s not how Cabinet works in a functioning government, indeed a functioning Opposition having Cabinet consensus and solidarity is fundamentally important.

“So we will walk away, but we always hope that the Coalition will have an opportunity to come back together because we know that we are stronger together.”

Sunrise host Natalie Barr has spoken to Liberal Senator Jane Hume this morning and asked if she had lost that loving feeling for the Nationals.

“You just ruined that song for me, Nat. I loved that song,” Ms Hume said

“The Liberal Party are very disappointed that the National Party have chosen to walk away from the Coalition agreement.

“We certainly respect their decision. We intend to work collaboratively with them as we always have in the past.

“As both David Littleproud and Sussan Ley have said the door is always open. We know that the Coalition is stronger together, but there were some sticking points to the Coalition agreement that couldn’t be overcome.

“Those sticking points included a number of policy areas that the National Party want embedded into the Coalition agreement.

“Now we have said, Sussan Ley has said, we want to do a full review of our policy suite that’s fair and reasonable after an election loss like the one that have just had.”

Commuters attempting to use Sydney’s train network are in the middle of another nightmare day following a major incident during Tuesday’s peak hour.

A 1,500-volt overhead cable fell onto train carriages near Strathfield station in Sydney’s west, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of passengers from the affected train as well as three others impacted by the resulting outage.

Crews worked overnight in challenging wet and dark conditions to assess and repair the damage.

Despite bringing the “catastrophic event” under control by Tuesday night, the disruption has flowed into Wednesday morning, with knock-on effects impacting the morning commute.

Authorities have urged passengers to consider alternative travel options where possible.

“Most lines will be impacted this morning due to power supply issues at Strathfield. Trains will operate, but services will be reduced and will not run to a normal timetable. Please delay non-essential travel,” a Sydney Trains spokesperson said.