Wes Fang: NSW Coalition in crisis as rogue Nationals MP rejects sacking

NSW Liberals are heading to a key meeting to sort out the future of their coalition with the National party, as experts warn the internal turmoil might put voters offside.

After Opposition Leader Mark Speakman ditched upper house MP Wes Fang from the shadow ministry for publicly lambasting him and claiming he was “pretending” to care about the Riverina, the Nationals hit back by claiming Liberals didn’t have the power to sack their members.

Mr Fang’s shadow portfolios were officially removed from the NSW parliament website on Monday, with the Liberals saying the parliamentary clerk had accepted Mr Speakman’s ability to sack the MP.

An urgently convened party meeting on Tuesday will pave the way forward for the coalition, with the Liberals understood to be seriously contemplating blowing up the agreement if the Nationals don’t accept the sacking.

Whatever the outcome, Charles Sturt University political scientist Dominic O’Sullivan suggested it was in both parties’ interests to settle their differences quickly before larger sections of the public are put off by their in-fighting.

“Whether Wes Fang is or isn’t on the coalition front bench makes no difference to the cost of living for anybody, and that is how voters will probably judge it,” he told AAP.

“At this stage, I suspect nobody’s noticed ... if the coalition agreement is terminated, that means we do have an ongoing dispute on our hands, because it’s highly unlikely the Liberals would gain the numbers at an election to govern on their own.”

Mr O’Sullivan said the Liberal party’s actions showed they felt they had less to lose than their junior coalition partner, perhaps expecting the Nationals to fold to the pressure.

The fracas was sparked by a controversial post by Mr Fang which accused Mr Speakman of behaving in an “underhanded” way by not informing him he was coming to Wagga Wagga last Wednesday.

“So ... the leader of the NSW Liberals Mark Speakman, slinks into #WaggaWagga, pretending like the Libs actually care about the Riverina,” Mr Fang’s post read.

“Did he ask the ‘Coalition’ member who lives in Wagga Wagga and is apparently part of his ‘team’ to have an in-depth discussion of Wagga Wagga issues?

“No. In fact, he didn’t even have the courtesy to let me know he was coming.”

Despite Mr Speakman announcing his removal from the shadow cabinet, Nationals leader Dugald Saunders dismissed that move and said the Liberal leader can’t sack his members.