Coalition is being glued together again after crisis week
- Written by: Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of Canberra
The Coalition is being glued together again, after a Liberal Party meeting on Friday gave the go ahead for Liberal leader Sussan Ley to negotiate with Nationals leader David Littleproud on the fine print of a settlement on policy.
The Liberal party room agreed to accept broadly the Nationals’ four policy demands, with the two leaders to deal with the details.
A new agreement between the parties is expected within days.
The rapprochement followed days of chaos after the Nationals on Tuesday walked out of the Coalition.
The turmoil has done significant damage to Littleproud, who has received widespread criticism of his handling of the relationship, including from within his own party. The crisis has raised questions about whether he will survive in his position in the longer term.
The Liberal meeting had before it four policies that the Nationals insisted should be kept, and not be caught up in the Liberals’ planned review of all policies.
The four were:
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removing the moratorium on nuclear energy, with a review of the remaining elements of the nuclear policy
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a $20 billion Regional Australia Future Fund, including a $1 billion annual budget allocation until the fund matured
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court-ordered divestiture powers in relation to major supermarkets and “big box” retailers
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and Universal Service Obligation reforms to boost mobile phone and internet services for regional Australians.
The Nationals’ demand on nuclear drops the core of the policy the opposition took to the election, which was for the government to fund a string of nuclear power plants.
The Liberals are divided over nuclear energy, with some wanting any policy on it scrapped.
Probably the most difficult of the Nationals’ policy points for the Liberals is the divestiture power, which was controversial within the Liberals when it was adopted last term as opposition policy.
A number of Liberals are particularly opposed to extending it to “big box” retailers.
There was also some concern among Liberals about the fiscal arrangements around the regional fund – whether it should be off budget or on budget.
While Liberals resent the Nationals’ behaviour, they were also aware of the political problems presented by a Coalition split and were anxious to get the two parties together again.
In a provocative tweet the Nationals Matt Canavan said: “Well done David Littleproud! Liberals back down on all requests.”
“Great win for the Nationals.”
Canavan ran against Littleproud for the leadership after the election.
