Coalition reunion seems inevitable but tensions remain

Sunday, 25 May 2025 18:30

A reunion of the Coalition seems inevitable, but tensions remain in both parties.

A reunion of the Coalition seems inevitable but tensions remain in both parties.

Some Nationals are defending the gains secured in the talks that sent the opposition into turmoil for two weeks.

But negotiations are back on even as former leaders circle Nationals boss David Littleproud.

Sussan Ley and David Littleproud during Question Time at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday 1 August 2023.

"I'm sorry to be upfront with my colleagues but we're kind of irrelevant right now. We're irrelevant in the Senate, certainly in the house - we've got to get our act together," Queensland senator Matt Canavan said.

Those leadership rumbles continue ahead of the announcement of a shadow cabinet, potentially this week and potentially another flash point.

When asked if his job was safe, Littlproud told Today: "That's entirely up to the party room, but they sent me here with clear instructions."

Deputy leader Kevin Hogan said constituents told him they were thankful for the commitments secured during the on-again-off-again Coalition negotiations.

"The feedback into my office from my community is very different from the commentary in the cities about what we've done this week. People are grateful and thankful," he told the ABC's Insiders.

That gratitude came even as government-funded nuclear power – one of the four key policies over which the Nationals temporarily blew up the Coalition – was sidelined in favour of pushing to lift the nationwide ban on nuclear energy.

Former PM Malcolm Turnbull weighed in.

"There's no prospect of anyone in the private sector ever building something here - so that's something that would be very easy to agree to," he said.

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told Sky Agenda: "What this has shown is that Sussan Ley has the capacity to steady the ship."

Hogan said Littleproud had "very, very strong support in the Nationals party room".

"I'd say even more support after the process that we've been through," he said.

The confusion helps the government as the prime minister prepares to head back to flood-affected regions this week.