Ley breaks silence after Coalition split
Liberal leader Sussan Ley had made her first public comments on the Coalition split, saying she won’t give into demands from the Nationals – led by Queensland’s David Littleproud.
Liberal leader Sussan Ley has left the door open to reconciling with the Nationals as the regional party demands she stand down.
Nationals leader David Littleproud on Thursday broke up the Coalition for a second time since the 2025 federal election, accusing Ley of bringing the political alliance to an “untenable position”.
The Opposition Leader shunned media interviews on Thursday out of respect for the victims for the Bondi terror attack, as Australia marked a national day of mourning.
On Friday morning, she spoke out for the first time, vowing she would survive in her role.
“I’m backed by my Liberal Party and the decisions that I’ve made to date,” she told Seven’s Sunrise.
Ley also said “the door is not closed” to the Coalition’s reunification, though insisting “my eye is not on the door”.
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She did not deny media reporting when asked to confirm if Littleproud unleashed on her in a phone call on Thursday morning. He is reported to have demanded she immediately reinstate three senators from his party who resigned over hate crime laws.
Insiders from both parties believe this split will last much longer than the previous week-long rupture, which followed Labor’s landslide election victory last May.
Firebrand conservative senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who moved from the Nationals party room to the Liberals after the election, has previously said she does not have confidence in Ley’s leadership.
“I made it very clear that obviously the leader had lost trust in me, lost faith in me, and I suppose I felt the same at the time,” she told Sky News on Thursday night.
“I don’t feel like things have improved.”
Liberals are preparing for a challenge to Ley’s leadership. It is likely when parliament returns a fortnight, although exact details on timing have not been locked in.
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Conservatives Angus Taylor and Andrew Hastie are seen as Ley’s most likely successors.
But one Liberal source described Hastie as “One Nation-lite”, warning his brand of fiery conservative politics would do little to win over new voters.
Taylor also carries baggage from his time as shadow treasurer, with some Liberals claiming he did not do enough to develop economic policy ahead of the 2025 federal election.
Rumours are also swirling of a possible challenge to Littleproud.
Former Nationals frontbencher Susan McDonald insisted Littleproud’s position was safe at the moment, and said she hoped the Coalition partners could rejoin forces quickly. But she warned the reunion would not happen straight away.
“I’m very optimistic that the Coalition will get back together at some point, because we know that united, we are stronger,” she said.
“However, at the moment, circumstances are that I think that is unlikely in the near term.”
On Wednesday night, the entire Nationals frontbench tendered their resignations.
Littleproud said he was preparing a new front bench made up of only Nationals members, in a sign the split might last for some time.
-with AAP
