Opposition Leader Sussan Ley is pushing for reunion talks with the Nationals after their spectacular break-up, but the meeting won’t happen straight away because of an impending leadership spill.
Ms Ley wrote to her Liberal colleagues on Wednesday, saying she had asked for a meeting with Nationals leader David Littleproud and other senior party officials, “without any preconditions and as a priority”.
The opposition leader said it was in the national interest to maintain a “strong and functioning relationship between the two parties, regardless of whether they are in a formal coalition”.
Liberal sources have told AAP Ms Ley still holds hopes of uniting the coalition after its messy divorce last week.
But if a meeting happens between the leaders, it won’t be until next week at the earliest, because Mr Littleproud is staring down an impending challenge to his leadership.
Mr Littleproud issued a statement on Wednesday night saying a time would be scheduled to meet with Ms Ley, “once the spill motion is determined in our party room meeting”.
That gathering is slated for Monday afternoon.
Mr Littleproud said it was important to “respect the process” of the leadership spill.
Ms Ley said the Liberals would talk to “whoever the Nationals elect as their leader, because whether we are in a coalition or not, it is our responsibility to hold the Albanese government to account”.
Queensland Nationals MP Colin Boyce has declared he will challenge Mr Littleproud for the party’s leadership when politicians return to Canberra next week.
“The National Party is committing political suicide by removing itself from the coalition,” he told Sky News.
“(If my colleagues) follow the course they’re on now, we are going over the political cliff.”
But insiders believe the push to unseat Mr Littleproud is unlikely to succeed because the rogue MP does not have the numbers.
Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who has previously challenged Mr Littleproud for the party’s top job, said the attempt to roll his leader came as a surprise.
“This was news to me,” he told AAP.
“I won’t be supporting the spill. I think now is the time for cooler heads to prevail.”
The former cabinet minister also raised hopes of a reunification between the Liberals and Nationals.
“Everybody would like to see us get back together,” he said.
“The disagreement we had last week is in the past.”
Other Nationals have struck a more defiant tone after the split, which was triggered by a disagreement over hate speech laws.
In a video posted to social media on Wednesday evening, Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie declared the party was “never going to fold on our principles”.
“It’s not who we are, and it’s not what we do,” she said.
Mr Littleproud defended his time as leader, saying the party had held all its lower house seats at the last election.
“I stand by my record as leader of The Nationals and what our party room has achieved, through important policy work and standing up for regional, rural and remote Australia,” he said in a statement.
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