Sussan Ley’s leadership is under renewed threat and the Coalition appears almost certain to split again after all National Party frontbenchers quit the Shadow Ministry on Wednesday over the opposition’s handling of new laws in response to the Bondi massacre.
Hours after voting against the Government’s hate crimes bill on Tuesday night, in breach of the Opposition’s agreed position, Nationals frontbenchers Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald all tendered their resignations the following morning.
By day’s end the remaining eight National party members on the Opposition frontbench including party leader David Littleproud, had also stepped down in solidarity with their colleagues, placing extraordinary pressure on Ms Ley and the future of the Coalition.
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A snap emergency meeting of National MPs on Wednesday evening canvassed the future of the Coalition, with sources telling The Nightly that further discussions will be held over coming days on whether to end their arrangement with the Liberal Party.
In a statement on Wednesday evening Shadow Assistant Treasurer Pat Conaghan announced that he had sent his resignation to the Opposition Leader because of his objections to the hate laws backed by the Liberals.
“Party convention dictates that Shadow Ministers must align in solidarity with the Leader of the Opposition on all legislation to pass the floor. Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement in full with our Liberal Party colleagues”.
“While I and my National Party colleagues fully support the intent of the legislation, we do not support the rushed iteration that has been presented,” he said.
A joint Liberal-Nationals shadow cabinet meeting last weekend had given in-principle agreement to back Labor’s crackdown on hate groups so long as they were amended in line with Coalition demands.
However, on Tuesday night when the legislation went to a vote in the Upper House, Senators McKenzie, Caddell and McDonald all defied the shadow cabinet position and voted against the laws, paving the way for a fresh crisis in the Coalition.
Liberal Party figures are furious at Mr Littleproud’s failure to produce a unified position in the Nationals, after they had earlier agreed to not back Labor’s separate gun reforms bill because the junior Coalition partner was against it.
Following last year’s election loss, the Coalition briefly split for the first in its history after a greatly reduced Liberal Party would not agree to policy demands from the Nationals.
The renewed crisis on the conservative side of politics is putting pressure on Ms Ley’s position as Liberal leader, with polls also continuing to show the Coalition well behind Labor, and One Nation making ground at its expense.
This week Ms Ley overtook Alexander Downer to become just the second shortest serving leader of the Liberal Party since its founding, after she passed his unenviable record of being in the job for just eight months and seven days.
