The Nationals were divided on the decision to abandon the Coalition,David Littleproudhas conceded, as the leader also leveled veiled criticism at Peter Dutton over policy failures during the disastrous election campaign.
Guardian Australia understands Littleproud will allocate portfolios as soon as Thursday with the Nationals set to wage their own arguments on the economy, industrial relations and energy.
The Nationals’ decision to break up the Coalition has sent shockwaves through the conservative side of politics, with formerLiberal prime ministers John Howardand Tony Abbott urging a rapid reconciliation.
“History shows that the Liberals and the Nationals win together and fail separately,” Abbott wrote on X.
Negotiations on anew Coalition agreement collapsedafter the new Liberal leader, Sussan Ley, refused to immediately sign up to the country party’s policy demands or grant Nationals MPs in shadow cabinet members the freedom to break ranks.
Littleproud communicated Ley’s firm position to colleagues on Tuesday morning, who subsequently agreed to abandon negotiations and blow up the Coalition.
The Nationals did not disclose the result of the party room vote but both Littleproud and the deputy leader, Kevin Hogan, conceded on Wednesday that there wasn’t a unanimous view.
“I think you’d be naive to think any party room would get a unanimous decision,” Littleproud told reporters in Canberra.
“I mean, there’s a diverse range of people, not only in our party room, in theLiberal partyroom, in the Labor party room, even in our good friends the Greens. I think that’s really superfluous to the fact that as a collective, we got to a position and we’re respecting that position, and we’re going to carry through that position.”
Hogan said the party room was “not unanimous but was quite conclusive”.
The former Nationals leaderMichael McCormackwas among several MPs to question to split during the virtual meeting, the Nine papers reported.
McCormack has been contacted for comment.
Littleproud staunchly defended the “principled” decision to cut ties with the Liberals over its refusal to immediately re-commit to positions on nuclear power, a $20bn regional future fund, break-up powers for supermarkets and reliable phone and internet access in the bush.
The break will have major ramifications for senior Nationals MP, which will lose shadow cabinet positions and the extra pay and staffing numbers that come with them.
Littleproud is expected to allocate portfolios on Thursday or Friday, with the split from the Liberals allowing the Nationals to branch out beyond their traditional areas of agriculture, water, trade, transport and resources.
“It’s important for theNational partyto be part of the public debate when it comes to the economy, the challenges around energy, the challenges around industrial relations, how we increase GDP,” the Nationals’ senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, said.
The split has reopened wounds from the Coalition’s disastrous election campaign.
Littleproud said the Peter Dutton-led campaign failed to combat Anthony Albanese’s “lie” about a $600bn price for nuclear reactors or mount the case that the Coalition’s energy plan would be cheaper than Labor’s renewables-focused approach.
“We couldn’t sell that. We didn’t sell that,” he told ABC’s RN Breakfast.
The Nationals leader also criticised the “fiasco” surrounding theCoalition’s plan to restrict work-from-home for public servants, which was ultimately abandoned mid-campaign after a major backlash.
The junior Coalition partner was blindsided by the policy, which wasn’t endorsed by shadow cabinet before it was announced.
Guardian Australia has learnt senior Nationals were privately seething at the policy, which threatened to disrupt regional families who relied on flexible work arrangements, including to commute from the regions to the city.
In government, the Nationals successfully lobbied for commonwealth public servants and agencies, such as the Murray-Darling Basin Authority, to be shifted to the regions.
The break-up could potentially make it harder to retain Senate seats in Victoria and NSW, where the Nationals run joint tickets with the Liberals.
Even if the parties weren’t reunited before the next election, due in 2028, Littleproud hinted that state officials could still thrash out a deal to run candidates under the one ticket.
But he acknowledged the threat of losing seats was one of the risks that was weighed up during the party room debate.
“I can assure you that when we had discussions in the party room, all those risks and factors were put on the table,” he said.
“We still got to the decision because you know what? We’re here for a reason, and we’re going to put our record in front of the Australian people at the next election and we’ll do it with conviction.”