‘It’s done’: Nationals leave the Coalition, say Ley put them in untenable position

Nationals leader David Littleproud says the Liberal-National agreement is over, initiating a split that may run until the next election after his frontbenchers sensationally quit the Coalition shadow cabinet on Wednesday night.

Littleproud blamed Opposition Leader Sussan Ley for forcing his hand in a press conference in Brisbane on Thursday morning, where he explained his party’s decision to blow up the Coalition by quitting with the joint frontbench along with 10 other Nationals MPs.

The Nationals leader claimed it was Ley’s actions that led to the historic rupture because she should not have accepted the resignations of three Nationals senators, who broke shadow cabinet convention when they voted against the Coalition’s position to support Labor’s hate crimes laws on Tuesday.

“She has forced the Coalition into an untenable position,” Littleproud said. “It’s done. I spoke to Sussan Ley half an hour ago.”

“We made it very clear that there would be a consequence, and that if Sussan accepted those resignations, then that consequence is that the Coalition would be untenable. It would be forced into a position that could not continue. She was aware of that.

“We cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley.”

The crux of Littleproud’s argument is that the Coalition’s internal decision-making process on Labor’s hate crimes laws was flawed.

More to come