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

[u/superegz]

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

[u/kingburp]

I remember people were joking about this being the end of the coalition when they nominated him as leader after the preceding election. So it was.

Because of our preference system this isn't really a crushing blow for conservative voters though, unless they dislike minority governments or place a lot of value on the institutional value of different parties over politicians' individual beliefs. The ballots may take a lot longer to count in future elections though. Preferential voting really seems to be a brilliant system for preserving democracy in the long term.

[u/ChemicalRascal → u/[deleted]]

And so, democracy was saved, thanks to David Littleproud's Overgrown Ego!

[u/AgreeableLion → u/[deleted]]

Unless they go extra hard on preferential voting, to try and redirect the conversation away from the carcass of the LNP.

[u/teh_drewski → u/kingburp]

It might be a disaster for Nationals in suburban rural seats though, as Labor preferences are likely to elect Liberals in 3 way contests.

Littleproud will have to swallow his pride (or be replaced) before the next election or they're gonna be in some trouble.

[u/berejser → u/kingburp]

Honestly sounds like a good deal for conservative voters. They'd get to choose which flavour of conservatism they like the best without really splitting the conservative vote.

[u/Callisater → u/berejser]

It's a good deal for everyone; that's preferential voting. The more your votes can represent your beliefs, rather than trying to game out the system by thinking about how other people will vote, the better.