Liberal Senator Jane Hume says the Liberals don’t need the Nationals or One Nation to govern. Photo: Screenshot.
As negotiations continue over the future of the Coalition, Sussan Ley is being strongly urged inside the Liberal Party not to buckle to the Nationals’ conditions for a reunion.
The Opposition Leader has given the Nationals until Monday (9 February) to rejoin the Coalition, which they quit after three Nationals were dumped from the frontbench for breaking shadow cabinet solidarity.
Ms Ley wants the Nationals back in the fold, but is insisting that the three floor-crossers – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald – remain on the back bench for six months.
The Nationals have countered with their own stipulations, which are basically the opposite of that.
Ms Ley is set to name a permanent Liberal-only shadow ministry on Monday if the Nationals remain recalcitrant.
But while some Liberals are happy for Monday’s deadline to be slightly extended if the Nats aren’t quite there yet, many are urging the Opposition Leader to stand fast over her conditions.
All the while, One Nation leader Pauline Hanson says she’s happy to consider a future agreement with both parties to form a super conservative force.
Despite One Nation’s support rising sharply in the opinion polls, Ms Hanson has acknowledged she can’t form a government on her own.
“The fact is I am a conservative at heart, and I would work with them [Liberals and Nationals] to give them supply,” she told Sky News.
“Would I join up to the rabble that they are at the moment? No way in the wide world.”
Liberal Senator Jane Hume has publicly dismissed the suggestion and added that the Liberals were capable of going it alone without the Nationals as well.
“Now, I think Pauline might be getting a little bit ahead of herself here,” Senator Hume told 7News.
“We’re two years out from an election, and at this stage, One Nation has only one member of the House of Representatives.
“I think the Liberal Party can govern on its own, on its own merits, too.”
“Let’s face it, we’re better in Coalition with the National Party, but the Liberal Party can do this on its own; do not be under any illusions that we can’t,” she said.
Shadow Communications Minister Melissa McIntosh has also stressed the importance of shadow cabinet solidarity, a breach of which is what sparked the Coalition’s implosion.
She said an “important red line to hold” in any future Coalition agreement is maintaining that solidarity.
“If we don’t have cabinet solidarity, then it could become a free-for-all,” Ms McIntosh said.
“And it’s a very important part of your commitment to the shadow cabinet and to the party and to the Coalition.”
One of the floor-crossing Nationals in question, Senator McKenzie, suggested negotiations between Ms Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud were nearing conclusion.
“The National Party remains committed to a Coalition reforming, if possible,” she said.
“We are all coalitionists, but that’s a matter for David Littleproud and Sussan Ley to negotiate.
“David has the full support of our room in these negotiations.”
Liberal frontbencher Dan Tehan acknowledged during an ABC interview that the six-month sin bin for the three rogue Nationals was the sticking point in the negotiations.
He suggested Ms Ley’s Monday deadline for the Nationals to recommit to the Coalition might be extended if an agreement was close.
He likened it to his experience as a former trade minister.
“I’ve done a couple of free trade negotiations with the UK and India. There’s deadlines, and if you’re very close, there’s always I’s that need to be dotted, T’s crossed,” he said.
“Then you say, OK, well, let’s extend it for a day or so. But we want to make sure that all the substance, more or less, has been agreed to by Sunday.”
