Coalition agreement to be renegotiated after Sussan Ley ousted from Liberal leadership
Nationals leader David Littleproud has taken a brutal swipe at outgoing Liberal leader Sussan Ley after the Coalition split twice under her watch.
Nationals leader David Littleproud has again blamed Sussan Ley for the Coalition’s dramatic January break-up, as the historic agreement is set to be renegotiated with incoming Liberal leader Angus Taylor.
Appearing on Weekend Today on Sunday, Mr Littleproud was highly complimentary in his assessment of Mr Taylor, describing the Hume MP as having “hit the ground running”.
“ … it’s just some downright common sense that Angus is getting back to, getting back to our values as Australians, pulling the levers without having to spend more your money to solve the nation’s problems,” Mr Littleproud said.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“That’s common sense. That’s what the Nationals will sign up to with the Coalition. And I think Angus has proven that pretty strongly in his first outing.”
But when asked if voters could expect another Coalition break-up – which happened twice under Ms Ley’s nine-month tenure as leader – Mr Littleproud said: “I think Angus understands the Coalition.”
“The reality was the Coalition was broken twice, because coalition rules were broken twice,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Sussan (Ley) broke the rule that policies aren’t removed after election. They’re all kept and they’re removed by exception.
“There were four that we wanted that were important to regional Australians, and then we weren’t even allowed to debate the free speech laws in a joint party room.
“Now I’m not sent down there (to Canberra) just to cower in the corner and not have my voice heard, and the National Party stood tall.
“Angus understands’ he’s been a long coalitionist.”
Mr Littleproud also revealed he had already caught up with the new federal Opposition Leader for a meal on Friday night, following Mr Taylor’s ousting of Ms Ley.
“We had enjoyed a beer and a steak together, and basically said, ‘let’s get on with the job, the job of restoring Australia’s standard of living and protecting our way of life’,” he said.
“That’s what we’re going to do, and that’s what we’re signed up to, lock, stock and barrel.”
In January, the two parties split after Ms Ley accepted the resignations in January of three Nationals frontbenchers who had crossed the floor over the Albanese government’s hate speech reforms, breaking shadow cabinet solidarity.
They reunited after almost a month apart.
It was the second such break-up after a week-long split in May last year.
Originally published as Coalition agreement to be renegotiated after Sussan Ley ousted from Liberal leadership
