Federal politics live: Nationals to split from Liberals, abandoning Coalition

Nationals leader David Littleproud has rejected reports that he gave Sussan Ley 30 minutes notice the Nationals would be leaving the Coalition.

Littleproud says the process started last Thursday when he drove to Albury to meet with Ley while she spent time with her dying mother.

He says the Nationals were seeking an assurance that some Nationals policies be cemented in a Coalition agreement.

“We weren’t asking for anything new that we wanted to have certainty around those, so these discussion took some time,” Littleproud says.

“The process was not taken lightly, it was respectful, and it was transparent.”

On Afternoon Briefing, Anne Aly has told Evelyn Manfield this government is the most culturally diverse ever.

She’s asked whether the Labor Party could do a better job at giving senior roles to people of diverse backgrounds.

“Well, I’m there,” Aly observes, before naming some of her other culturally diverse colleagues.

“I think when we talk about diversity we don’t just talk about our own diversity, we talk about the diversity of others as well, diversity is a concept, as a valued concept as part of our party as
well,” she said.

“So I think that we have done a lot, in terms of not just having diverse representation in our caucus, as you mention, in our government, as you mention, but in elevating those diverse voices as well.”

Over to Afternoon Briefing now, where Labor frontbencher Anne Aly has given her reaction to the Coalition split.

She says the government will work with “whatever parliament is made up of”.

“You know, if they
choose to consciously uncouple, that is unto them, and I think in terms of our approach, we were elected as a majority on a mandate, and we will govern that way,” she said.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has just wrapped her press conference in Parliament House. Here are the main points:

• Sussan Ley says the door always remains open to the Nationals if they want to rejoin the Coalition. 
• Ley says the Liberals offered to work constructively with the Nationals and stand a joint shadow cabinet, but they declined.
• The opposition leader says she doesn’t see the Liberal and National parties as being shackled together.
• Ley says she wasn’t going to accept a Coalition agreement without shadow cabinet solidarity, as the Nationals requested.

Asked if she felt the Nationals were rushing her, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley says the minor party probably felt they arrived at a point where there was no more discussion to be had.

“But in the future, perhaps we can return and have conversations that pick up where we left off. But in terms of why, that probably is a question for them,” Ley says.

When asked if she thinks the Liberals could form government on their own, Ley says John Howard could have governed without the Nationals in 1996.

“John Howard took a strong and principled approach that the Coalition mattered in the long-term more than one term in government where the Liberals effectively could have governed without the Nationals,” she says.

With both parties flagging that the door is still open for a Coalition agreement down the line, some are questioning the permanency of the opposition’s upcoming shadow cabinet.

Sussan Ley is asked whether she will be holding some shadow portfolios for a potential Nationals return.

She says she won’t be.

“I have
enormous talent in the Liberal Party party room and the shadow ministers that I appoint from that party room will be well-equipped and incredibly capable to take the fight up to Labor right up until the next election,” she says, before taking another question.

A later question steers the press conference back to the shadow cabinet matter.

“If the Nationals are keen to rejoin, and I hope they are, those discussions will be had as and when needed,” Ley reiterates.

Sussay Ley says she wasn’t going to accept a Coalition agreement without shadow cabinet solidarity, as the Nationals requested.

Ley says she would have preferred fierce debates to occur within party rooms and around the shadow cabinet table, rather than in public.

“You come out as a united front and you present a united agenda to the Australian people. And it’s important that when we do that, people know that we’re acting as a team in their interests,” Ley says.

Sussan Ley moves to take the first question.

She’s asked whether she sees an opportunity for the Liberal Party to be “free from the shackles of the Coalition”.

But the opposition leader disagrees with the premise.

“I don’t actually see the Coalition as a way of the two parties being shackled together,” she says, insisting the Coalition is stronger together.

She says while policies have changed over her time in parliament, both parties’ values “never will”.

Sussay Ley says the Liberals offered to work constructively with the Nationals and offered the parties stand up a joint shadow cabinet.

She says the Liberal Party also insisted that shadow cabinet solidarity be maintained in any Coalition agreement.

The Nationals did not accept either requests, Ley says.

Ley says the Liberal Party will announce its shadow ministry in the coming days.

“The Liberal Party is the official opposition in the parliament. A new shadow ministry will be drawn from the Liberals in the upcoming days, and obviously I will be saying more about that,” Ley says.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is speaking. She says the Liberal Party must represent modern Australia.

Ley says she’s disappointed the Nationals have left the Coalition but says the door always remains open to David Littleproud.

“We will take the time to get this right. We’ll listen, we’ll step up, we’ll modernise and we will rebuild,” Ley says.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will step up to speak at Parliament House shortly.

She’ll be addressing the National Party’s split from the Coalition today.

Stay tuned for all the latest updates right here!

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has just released a statement expressing disappointment the National Party has decided to leave the Coalition.

Ley says the Liberal Party’s door remains open to the Nationals should they wish to rejoin the Coalition before the next election.

“As was explained to The Nationals, the Liberal Party’s review of election policies was not an indication that any one of them would be abandoned, nor that every single one would be adopted,” Ley says.

“We offered to work constructively with The Nationals, respecting the party’s deeply held views on these issues. We asked The National Party to work constructively with us, respecting our internal processes,” she says.

The opposition leader says the Nationals rejected a Liberal proposal to appoint a joint Coalition Shadow Ministry now with separate policy development in each party room, and subsequent joint policy positions.

The Nationals didn’t commit to a request to maintain shadow cabinet solidarity in a Coalition agreement, she says.

Ley says the shadow ministry will now be drawn exclusively from the Liberal party room and will be announced in the coming days.

Here’s what Treasurer Jim Chalmers said at a press conference following the RBA’s decision to cut interest rates:

• He says it’s the first time in four years that headline and underlying inflation have returned to the RBA’s target range.
• He described the National Party’s split from the Coalition as a “nuclear meltdown”.
• But he says Labor will never underestimate its political opponents, even when they’re at their worst.
• Chalmers says the Liberal and National split is “so deep and personal” that it can’t be resolved. 
• He has refused to say whether he expects there to be another interest cut in the near future. 

Jim Chalmers won’t be weighing in with his thoughts on how the next few RBA meetings will play out.

“I think as you would appreciate, I’m given lots of opportunities to make predictions on future movements on interest rates, and I don’t take up that very kind offer of yours,” he tells a reporter when asked whether he’s confident there are more rate cuts to come. 

He does, however, note that the market expects there to be further interest rate cuts.

“There was an almost 100% expectation of a rate cut today, and that’s what we saw.

“Obviously, the further out you go, the more uncertainty there is about that, partly because of the economy before around the global environment.

“The market
expects there to be further interest rate cuts, but market expectations change over time.”

Jim Chalmers has been asked whether the Coalition split is representative of a growing city and regional divide in Australia.

Chalmers hasn’t directly answered the question but has declared the only political party capable of representing cities, suburbs and regions is Labor.

He says the splits in the former Coalition are “so deep and personal” that they can’t be resolved.

“In the Labor Party, we’ve got representatives from right around Australia with different backgrounds. Our party room looks like Australia and only Labor leader Anthony Albanese has the capacity to bring people together and focus the country on our big economic and other challenges,” Chalmers says.

Jim Chalmers has described the Nationals split from the Coalition as a “nuclear meltdown” that is a “smoking ruin”.

He says the new Liberal leadership has failed its first test and the events show the Liberals and Nationals have learnt nothing from the election.

“This is a nuclear meltdown in the Coalition,” Chalmers says.

“It’s hard to see how Australians can take them seriously when they don’t even take each other seriously.

“They tried to divide the Australian community in the election campaign and they ended up dividing themselves. And the consequence of that is that the Liberal Party is now barely bigger than the crossbench in the parliament.”

But Chalmers says Labor doesn’t underestimate its political opponents, even when they’re at their worst.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has just stepped up to talk and he says the RBA’s decision is welcome relief for millions of Australians.

Chalmers says it’s the first time in four years headline and underlying inflation has fallen into the Reserve Bank’s target range.

He says today’s decision will knock about $79 per month off a $500,000 mortgage or $118 per month for someone on a $750,000 mortgage.

“Today’s interest rate cut doesn’t mean that the job is finished when it comes to the cost of living, but it will help millions of Australians with a mortgage,” Chalmers says.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers will step up soon to discuss the latest interest rates decision handed by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

The RBA has cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points to 3.85 per cent — the lowest interest rates level since May 2023. 

Stay tuned!

Follow the business live blog below to find out more about the interest rates decision.

Queensland’s Liberal National Party (LNP) president Lawrence Springborg says the Coalition split will have no impact at a state or council level.

Springborg says the National and Liberal party rooms will retain the discretion and autonomy to negotiate their own policy positions and working arrangements under existing parliamentary arrangements.

“The current discussions between the respective federal party rooms have no bearing or impact on the organisational arrangements within the Queensland LNP,” Springborg says.

The statement says the LNP remains “optimistic” that the federal party rooms will continue discussions around negotiating a future Coalition agreement.

“We hope that as a part of the ongoing federal discussions this can also be avoided in other places around our nation,” he says.

Queensland Liberal MP Scott Buchholz has told the ABC members of the Liberal Party have been advised via text to make themselves available this afternoon for a Liberal Party phone hook-up at 2pm with Sussan Ley.

“This will be an opportunity for the leadership group to verbalise to all of the members of the Liberal Party — and it’ll be just the Liberal Party only — about some of the machinations that have revealed themselves during the deliberations for the Coalition agreement,” he said.

“And I dare say there will be an outline of how we progress and that the Liberal Party will determine what the Liberal Party’s policy positions will be.

“We won’t be dictated to by foreign groups or foreign entities that seek to insert their positions on us without due process from our party room.”