General News
23 May, 2025
Nationals call time on coalition
The Nationals have split from the Liberal Party after days of negotiations between the two sides failed to result in a coalition agreement, breaking with a century-long tradition.
By Sophia McCaughan
In a media statement, the Leader of The Nationals, David Littleproud, said during the last term in parliament, The Nationals fought hard for a package of sensible and important policies that would benefit regional Australia.
“These were adopted as coalition policies and were strongly supported by local communities,” he said.
Following discussions with newly-elected Leader of the Liberal Party, Sussan Ley, Mr Littleproud said that the centre-right country party do not have the assurance they need to ensure the policies will be honoured in a future coalition agreement.
“The Nationals cannot in good conscience walk away from our commitments to regional Australia,” he said in the media statement.
“We will not walk away from the $20 billion Regional Australia Future Fund, which would provide up to $1 billion extra funding every year for regional projects, from improving access to better health, child and aged care, through to fixing local roads and building new sporting facilities.”
Emboldened by an election result that saw the minor party retain nearly all of its lower house seats while the Liberal Party went backwards, Nationals MPs had previously flagged that the arrangement was up for discussion.
“We will not walk away from ‘big stick’ divestiture competition laws that keep the big supermarkets honest and deliver fairer prices for farmers at the farmgate and families at the checkout,” Mr Littleproud said. The devastating May election loss, which saw the coalition reduced to just over 40 seats in the House of Representatives, The Liberals’ views on the policy were mixed.
“We will not walk away from the potential of nuclear power as a necessary element of a balanced energy mix that secures Australia’s energy security,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The Nationals’ Party Room does not take this decision lightly.”
It appears that disagreements about certain polarising policies that were taken to this year’s federal election and failed triumphantly is the main reason for The Nationals breaking from the historic coalition.
“It is made without malice, when the Liberal Party is ready, our door will be open,” Mr Littleproud concluded.
In a media statement, Member-elect for the Parkes, Jamie Chaffey, said it was a big decision in National Party history.
“I couldn’t support a position to walk away from policies that we took to the election, just weeks ago, that were supported by the Parkes electorate as shown by my resounding result,” Mr Chaffey said.
“I strongly believe The Nationals are the only party that truly represents regional Australia, and we proved today that we won’t back down, and we won’t apologise for standing up for what we believe in.”
The coalition agreement has been abandoned multiple times over the previous century, with the parties eventually rejoining.
The last coalition agreement split was in 1987 after a fight between the two parties in Queensland.
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