Ley gives Nats ultimatum and hands SA Senator new role in shadow ministry
Federal Liberal Leader Sussan Ley has given the Nationals one week to rejoin the coalition or her new acting shadow ministry appointments will become permanent. One SA Liberal has won new responsibilities.
Federal Leader of the Opposition Sussan Ley today appointed seven new members of her Shadow Cabinet – with SA’s Anne Ruston winning new responsibilities – on an acting basis as she gives the Nationals a deadline to patch things up.
The Coalition spectacularly split last week over differences around hate speech legislation, with Nationals leader David Littleproud saying at the time “there’s no other position”.
“Our party room has made it clear that we cannot be part of a shadow ministry under Sussan Ley,” he said at the time.
“She has … forced the Coalition into an untenable position that can no longer continue.”
Ley supporter and SA Senator Anne Ruston is among those with the most high-profile jobs with three existing ministries: Health and Aged Care, Disability and the NDIS and Sport. She has now been handed a fourth job looking after Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.
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Ruston has faced her own difficulties in the party in SA, with conservative backbencher Alex Antic ousting her from the top of the state’s Senate ticket.
Today, Ley said the acting Shadow Ministry appointments would become permanent on Monday, February 9, when she would appoint parliamentarians “on an ongoing basis”.
“There is enormous talent in the parliamentary Liberal Party and my party room is more than capable of permanently fulfilling each and every one of those roles.”
Existing members of the Shadow Cabinet will retain their current portfolios but also assume responsibility for vacancies.
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The newly appointed acting Shadow Ministers are:
- Mr Ted O’Brien MP (Assistant Treasurer and Financial Services)
- Senator the Hon. Michaelia Cash (Trade, Investment and Tourism)
- Senator the Hon. Anne Ruston (Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry)
- The Hon. Dan Tehan MP (Resources and Northern Australia)
- Senator the Hon. James McGrath (Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Local Government and Territories)
- The Hon. Angus Taylor MP (Veterans’ Affairs)
- Ms Angie Bell MP (Water and Emergency Management)
“With several upcoming parliamentary sittings, including Senate Estimates, the Liberal Leadership Group has met and agreed that the finalisation of longer term shadow ministerial arrangements is also required,” Ley said in a statement.
“There is enormous talent in the parliamentary Liberal Party and my party room is more than capable of permanently fulfilling each and every one of those roles.
“Equally, The Nationals’ decision to leave the Coalition was both regrettable and unnecessary and that door remains open. The Liberal and National parties exist to serve the Australian people and the maintenance of a strong and functioning relationship between both is in the national interest — whether we are in a formal Coalition or not.”
Ley said she wrote to Littleproud on Tuesday proposing a meeting “without any preconditions and as a priority”.
Littleproud is himself staring down a leadership challenge, with Queensland MP Colin Boyce set to launch a spill motion against the current leader in the coming week.
Ley said she would await his party’s consideration of the forthcoming spill motion.
“Following Monday’s parliamentary meeting of The Nationals, I will attempt to meet with whoever is elected as their leader,” she said.
