Sussan Ley has sought discussions with Nationals who opposed the breakup of theCoalition, including Barnaby Joyce, as part of efforts to try to repair the breach.
Ley has approached former leaders Joyce and Michael McCormack as well as frontbencher Darren Chester as she seeks reconciliation.
The move comes as the Nationals and Liberals continued to argue over the reasons behind the split.
David Littleproud said on Thursday the historic Coalition breakup was solely about key policy promises for regional Australia. He rejected claims he demanded that Nationals in the shadow ministry be free to speak out against Coalition policy.
Ley had said earlier this week the Nationals had sought changes to the practice of shadow cabinet solidarity, a rule that requires frontbenchers to advocate for the party’s settled position regardless of their personal views.
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But Littleproud said on Thursday morning the breakdown was only because of four policy demands: for the introduction of nuclear power, forced break-up powers for the big supermarkets, a $20bn regional infrastructure fund and telecommunication service guarantees in the bush.
“I didn’t think that was too much to expect,” Littleproud said. “We couldn’t get a guarantee on that, sadly, but we stand ready. If we can get a guarantee on that, then our door is open.”
On Wednesday the Nationals’ Senate leader, Bridget McKenzie, was asked on the ABC’s 7.30 program if Ley was lying when stating the Nationals’ shadow ministers wanted to break cabinet solidarity as a condition of a new coalition agreement. McKenzie said it was “not part of our consideration” and Nationals’ demands were limited tothe four policy ultimatums.
But Ley’s office pushed back during the live interview, texting the ABC to insist that it was “not correct to suggest that shadow cabinet solidarity was not a sticking point”.
Asked on ABC TV about the breakdown on cabinet solidarity, Littleproud said Ley’s response on the question was “satisfactory and reasonable and fair”.
“It wasn’t up for debate in our party room because I believed what she sent back was more than reasonable.”
Littleproud said the Nationals’ position on the voice to parliament debate had set back relations with former opposition leader Peter Dutton in the last term of parliament.
He refused to say if he sought to be made deputy opposition leader, over Ley’s deputy Liberal leader, Ted O’Brien.
The growing spat follows publication of a letter from McKenzie to the Liberal Senate leader, Michaelia Cash, sent before the split, in which she warned the junior partner would have to consider whether it continued to sit with the Liberals in the Senate after Jacinta Nampijinpa Price’s defection to the Liberals.
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McKenzie’s letter was first published by News.com.au on Thursday. She raised party status for the Nationals in the Senate after Nampijinpa Price moved to join theLiberal partyroom to stand as deputy leader earlier this month.
“Depending on the outcome of negotiations between our two parties over coming weeks, the Nationals Senate party room will need to consider our position with respect to sitting with the Liberal party as Coalition in the Senate chamber,’’ McKenzie wrote.
Within days the two parties had formally split for the first time since the late 1980s, badly weakening both in parliament and making it difficult for the Liberals to challenge Labor at the next election.
Former prime minister Tony Abbott joined the growing debate on Thursday, calling the split bad for both sides on Sydney radio 2GB.
“If the Libs and the Nats go their separate ways, we won’t have one strong opposition, we’ll have two opposition parties that are fighting each other as much as they’re fighting a bad government,” he said.
“That’s a recipe for permanent opposition and that’s a recipe for permanent poor government in our country.”
The deputy Nationals leader, Kevin Hogan, said the split was driven by principles and acknowledged the party could pay a price at the next election, including the loss of Senate spots in Victoria and New South Wales, due to an end of joint tickets with the Liberals.
“We’ve lost shadow cabinet positions around this … It was a decision that two of our senators could make at great cost to them,” he said.