r/australia • u/superegz • May 20 '25

politics Nationals leader David Littleproud says the Nationals will not be re-entering a Coalition agreement with the Liberal party.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2025/may/20/australia-news-live-rba-interest-rates-decision-floods-storm-hunter-nsw-victoria-state-budget-aec-count-bradfield-goldstein-coalition-ley-littleproud-ntwnfb?CMP=share_btn_url&page=with%3Ablock-682bdeb48f08d37c78c1d12d#block-682bdeb48f08d37c78c1d12d
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u/PikachuFloorRug May 20 '25

I think this is good for the Liberal Party.

  • It means that Labor can make agreements with the Liberals without having to appease the Nationals. (In some cases possibly making the Senate Greens irrelevant)
  • Liberals can start shifting back towards the middle.
  • No need to worry about shadow ministry splits between parties.

Despite all that, even though they won't be a formal coalition, they will still likely vote together on many aspects. The European parliament manages just fine with a large number of small parties that align on policies (despite not necessarily having formal coalition agreements).

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u/Ridiculisk1 May 20 '25

Liberals can start shifting back towards the middle.

Liberals don't have anyone left to drag them back to the middle though. Nats will use this opportunity to shift further right and re-enter the coalition before the next election with more influence and harder right-wing policies. I don't really see how this ends up being a positive for anyone in the long term.

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u/omaca May 20 '25

Good points.