Liberals have expressed outrage over the Nationals’ decision to abandon and then return to the Coalition, with one claimingDavid Littleproudhas “shredded” his leadership with the short-lived split and that it will be hard for the two parties to trust each other again.
The comments came asMichael McCormackdeclined to rule out standing up in a future leadership ballot, after saying he was “ambitious” for Littleproud’s leadership on Friday morning.
Liberals held a virtual party room meeting on Fridayto accept in-principal the four demands made by the Nationals– including a watered-down policy to end the Howard-era moratorium on nuclear – and gave leader Sussan Ley the authority to continue negotiating the full Coalition agreement with Littleproud over the weekend.
Despite the reconciliation, Liberal sources told Guardian Australia there was frustration in the party over the Nationals’ handling of the issue, with one MP saying there was now “much less goodwill” towards the juniorCoalitionpartner.
A second Liberal said they were “uncomfortable” with the precedent set by the Nationals in the broken down negotiations, and believed it “unusual” that they were setting these demands in the Coalition agreement.
Another MP said Littleproud had “shredded” his leadership credentials and was now on “borrowed time”.
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The backflip had “strengthened” the Liberals’ position in the joint party room, they also said, claiming the Nationals had “stared into the abyss” and then come “scrambling back”.
A fourth said the behaviour of the Nationals had “hardened party room resolve” against allowing the Nationals to “dictate” their policy positions, and that the Liberals were “probably too accepting” of the country party’s policies during the previous term.
They also accused the Nationals of “acting like kids” during the negotiations, and said now was “not the time” after facing a shock loss at the ballot box on 3 May.
Another senator emphasised that the in-principle agreement on the four policies would be defined in more detail by the shadow cabinet and “not by the Nationals”.
Littleproud’s office declined to comment.
On Friday, McCormack told ABC TV he wouldn’t rule himself out of any future leadership ballots, but said there were no plans for a coup.
“I’m not planning to roll David any time soon. This week has been messy, it has,” he said.
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“Journalists are always intrigued by asking, ‘Will he run for the leader?’ but you’re not going to put a red line through your name forever more … You shouldn’t ever say never to such things, because I don’t know what is going to happen in the future.”
Earlier on Friday, McCormack said he was “ambitious” for Littleproud’s leadership – a reference to then-treasurer Scott Morrison saying he was “ambitious” for Malcolm Turnbull, just two days before Turnbull was rolled in 2018 – then later described the comment as “tongue-in-cheek”.
He also quashed reports former leader Barnaby Joyce was putting his support behind a McCormack challenge.
“I have not spoken to Barnaby about that, I have not. I’m sure it’s not true … David Littleproud is our leader,” McCormack told the ABC.
Insiders told Guardian Australia Ley had drawn up her shadow ministry and was ready to announce it publicly on Thursday but paused after speaking to Littleproud.
Ley and Littleproud will finalise the new Coalition agreement in coming days, which will determine how many ministry positions will be given to the Nationals – dictated by how what percentage of seats they hold in the joint party room.
The new shadow ministry is expected to be announced next week.