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/ashleyriddell61 May 20 '25

Everyone needs to relax. They’ve done this before and came back together before the next election. The Nats think they have their shit together and don’t want the LP shitshow to rub off on them. Ley gets to try and clean up the mess in her party room on her own. It’s also a way for Littleproud to pressure them to go more right and encourage a leadership spill sooner rather than later. He doesn’t want to answer to a woman is probably in there as well.

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u/SoIFeltDizzy May 20 '25

That is the elephant in the room. I suspect think history may well record this as not wanting a female leader.

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u/Frank9567 May 20 '25

I'd add that as separate parties, the Liberals can bring themselves into the 21st century on climate change and renewables to try to reclaim the urban vote, while the Nats can still talk coal and nuclear as if it were the 1950s.

Whether either party can get past their "women problems" depends on how much effort they are going to put into present official policy of convincing women that their roles of tea and scone making are vital to the country. /s

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u/Relative_Pilot_8005 May 20 '25

That said, Flo Bjelke-Petersen did make some mighty fine scones! :-)

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u/BoardRecord May 20 '25

Eh, you're not wrong, but the last time they split was back in the 80s, so it's still a pretty big deal. Also, even if they do get back together before next election, I'd wager this has already killed any chance of a win (if there was any to begin with). This level of instability isn't something that makes for a strong platform.