Coalition again in doubt and Sussan Ley’s leadership under threat as Nationals frontbenchers quit

Sussan Ley’s leadership is under renewed threat and the Coalition appears almost certain to split again after all National party frontbenchers quit the Shadow Ministry on Wednesday over the opposition’s handling of new laws in response to the Bondi massacre.

Hours after voting against the government’s hate crimes bill on Tuesday night, in breach of the opposition’s agreed position, Nationals frontbenchers Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald all tendered their resignations the following morning.

By day’s end the remaining eight National party members on the Opposition frontbench including Party leader David Littleproud had also stepped down in solidarity with their colleagues, placing extraordinary pressure on Ms Ley and the future of the Coalition.

A snap emergency meeting of National MPs on Wednesday evening canvassed the future of the Coalition, with sources telling The Nightly that further discussions will be held over coming days on whether to end their arrangement with the Liberal Party.

Late on Wednesday the Opposition Leader issued a statement saying she had spoken to the Nationals leader and “strongly urged him not to walk away from the Coalition”.

“I have received additional offers of resignation from National Party Shadow Ministers, which I and my Liberal Leadership Group have determined are unnecessary,” Ms Ley said.

“The Liberal Party supports the Coalition arrangements because they deliver the most effective political alliance for good government. I note that in David’s letter, he has not indicated that the Nationals are leaving the Coalition.”

“No permanent changes will be made to the Shadow Ministry at this time, giving the National Party time to reconsider these offers of resignation,” Ms Ley added.

Earlier Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Nationals MP Pat Conaghan announced that he had sent his resignation to Ms Ley because of his objections to the hate laws backed by the Liberals.

“This morning, National Party leader David Littleproud offered blanket resignations for all current Shadow Ministerial positions held by National Party members. I have since sent my resignation… to the leader of the Opposition.”

“Party convention dictates that Shadow Ministers must align in solidarity with the Leader of the Opposition on all legislation to pass the floor. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement in full with our Liberal Party colleagues”.

“While I and my National Party colleagues fully support the intent of the legislation, we do not support the rushed iteration that has been presented,” he said.

A joint Liberal-Nationals shadow cabinet meeting last weekend had given in-principle agreement to back Labor’s crackdown on hate groups so long as they were amended in line with Coalition demands.

However, on Tuesday night when the legislation went to a vote in the Upper House, Senators McKenzie, Caddell and McDonald all defied the shadow cabinet position and voted against the laws paving the way for a fresh crisis in the coalition.

Liberal party figures are furious at Mr Littleproud’s failure to produce a unified position in the Nationals, after they had earlier agreed to not back Labor’s separate gun reforms bill because the junior coalition partner was against it.

Following last year’s election loss, the Coalition briefly split for the first in its history after a greatly reduced Liberal party would not agree to policy demands from the Nationals.

The renewed crisis on the conservative side of politics is putting renewed pressure on Ms Ley’s position as Liberal Leader, with polls also continuing to show the coalition well behind Labor, and One Nation making ground at its expense.

This week Ms Ley overtook Alexander Downer to become just the second shortest serving leader of the Liberal party since its founding, after she passed his unenviable record of being in the job for just eight months and seven days.

Liberal party sources claim that over the summer parliamentary break internal support has grown for Angus Taylor to takeover from Ms Ley as leader, but the Shadow Defence Minister was not in Canberra for this week’s unscheduled early return of Parliament.

Nationals MPs on Wednesday evening were also busy sounding out colleagues about the next steps for their party, including a possible leadership challenge to David Littleproud.

Ahead of Parliament’s return the Prime Minister was forced to split his legislative response to the Bondi terror attack, separating gun laws from watered down hate speech proposals in order to get the opposition to back the laws and avoid a humiliating defeat.