Sussan Ley and David Littleproud: They’re putting the band back together. Image: Instagram (and Region).
They couldn’t get it together in time for parliament’s first sitting week, but the Liberals and Nationals are back in their Coalition just in time for the second one.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud announced the reunion on Sunday (8 February) after an agreement was reached the night before to see both parties once again sitting together on the Opposition benches of Federal Parliament’s chambers.
The three Nationals senators who sparked the split breaching shadow cabinet solidarity last month – Bridget McKenzie, Ross Cadell and Susan McDonald – will get their frontbench roles back after six weeks on the backbench instead of the six months Ms Ley was initially demanding.
Each shadow minister will return to their previously held roles on 1 March 2026, at which point existing acting shadow ministerial portfolio arrangements announced on 30 January will end.
Mr Littleproud and Nationals deputy leader Kevin Hogan will attend meetings of the Opposition’s leadership group, shadow cabinet and shadow economic review committee in the interim, to ensure joint representation of both parties and accountability in decision-making.
And, because the recent drama has shown it’s necessary, shadow ministers will have to sign a solidarity agreement to avoid another frontbench floor-crossing spectacle.
From now on, neither of the individual parties will be able to overturn decisions of the shadow cabinet on their own.
Both leaders blamed the Federal Government for their predicament, insisting the Coalition split only came about because Labor had thrust their hate speech laws on them in too much of a hurry.
Ms Ley acknowledged, however, that it has been a difficult few weeks for the Coalition, and said she had canvassed the views of all Liberal MPs over getting the parties back in the same tent.
“It’s been a difficult time for millions of our Coalition supporters, and many other Australians who rely on our two great parties to provide scrutiny and national leadership, but the Coalition is back together and looking to the future, not the past,” she said.
“We’re squarely focused on representing the Australian people and fighting for their needs, their aspirations and their hopes. They deserve no less. They expect no less, and they will receive no less.
“I want to recognise and thank all of our colleagues, our grassroots party members and party officials who have worked with us to restore the Coalition arrangements and we’ve put together a clear framework that strengthens the way we work going forward.
“Coalition internal processes will be strengthened, including all shadow ministers signing on to shadow cabinet solidarity and codification that neither individual party is able to overturn the decisions of the shadow cabinet.”
The first joint partyroom meeting will be held on Tuesday (10 February).
Mr Littleproud said it was because the Liberals and Nationals have an “enduring relationship” for more than 100 years that it could survive each other’s differences.
“That means we can get to this juncture. We’ve got to be honest, it’s been disappointing, we’ve got to where we are, but it was over a substantive issue – a matter of principle that we weren’t both afforded the time to be able to explore in a proper way,” he said.
“That the Albanese government tried to rush through laws so substantive around freedom of speech when the intent of both parties was to do the right thing, not just by the Jewish community but by the Australian people to make sure there wasn’t an overreach and we didn’t have the time nor the processes afforded to both parties to achieve that … This wasn’t about personalities. This was about principles – we tried to get to a position in a short period of time that we weren’t afforded a proper process.
“I think that says to the Australian people that you’ve got a Coalition that cares, that we are better together. That we are two parties. A coalition isn’t one party, but we’re two parties, and we’ve been able to work together.
“But when it matters, we’ve got to be able to say to the Australian people what we stand for, but we’ve got to make sure we can say to the Australian people we’ve got a way forward.”
When announcing the Nationals were leaving the Coalition on 22 January, Mr Littleproud said he couldn’t work with Ms Ley.
“There’s no other position,” he said then.
“We cannot be part, our party room has made it very clear we cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley.”
On Sunday, both leaders stressed that they now trust each other.
