Opposition Leader Sussan Ley has offered David Littleproud a pathway for the Nationals to rejoin the Coalition but only if the party accepts tighter discipline and a six month spell on the backbench for three senators who broke shadow cabinet solidarity.
Ley has given Littleproud until the weekend to respond, warning she will announce a new shadow ministry without the Nationals if there is no agreement.
The rupture traces back to an urgent parliamentary recall after the Bondi Junction terror attack and a late night vote on legislation the government said would strengthen Australia’s hate and anti extremism framework.
Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell voted against the bill despite a shadow cabinet decision to support it. Ley accepted their resignations from the frontbench, saying the convention of solidarity had been breached.
Littleproud responded by pulling the National Party of Australia out of the Coalition, the second split in a year and has since argued the three senators must be reinstated before any reunion is possible.
With the parties separated, Nationals MPs have been shifted away from the opposition benches and the opposition’s share of Question Time is expected to be reduced as non government questions are divided across a larger crossbench.
Ley’s latest offer would keep the three senators off the frontbench until July and would lock in what Liberal figures describe as guardrails designed to stop either party room overturning a position endorsed by the Coalition shadow cabinet.
Ley has framed the solidarity rule as non negotiable, arguing the opposition cannot function if shadow ministers break ranks in the chamber and expect to stay in the team.
Littleproud has said the party will take time to consider the details, while figures in both camps have argued over who gets to pick personnel and how disputes are handled in future.
The stakes are high for an opposition already trying to sharpen its attack on the Australian Labor Party ahead of a busy parliamentary year.
