David Littleproud defends ‘principle position’ that crumbled the Coalition

David Littleproud has defended his “principle position” after being asked how the National Party could deliver for its voters after the Coalition’s shock collapse.

The Nationals leader on Tuesday broke the news that he and Sussan Ley had failed to strike a new Coalition deal, making it only the fourth time the arrangement has been breached in its 79-year history.

Mr Littleproud stressed the decision was a matter of principle.

But the move has reduced his party’s influence in the parliament.

Appearing on Sky News on Wednesday, Mr Littleproud was asked: “What are your constituents going to do with your principles when you won’t be in a position of power?”

He replied the “harsh reality” was that the Liberals “can’t govern without us, and we can’t govern without them”.

“We don’t ask for a lot, but what we do ask, we mean it, because it changes the lives of the people that we represent,” Mr Littleproud said.

“That’s what I’m sent here to do.”

In Coalition negotiations, the Nationals would not budge on four key policies they believed were important to rural and regional Australia.

They included divestiture powers, nuclear power, its proposed regional Australia fund and telecoms coverage.

“We’ve been mature, we’ve been constructive, and we got to a position in the last parliament that meant so much to people in regional Australia – the people that we represent – and I wouldn’t be doing my job, and I wouldn’t be able to put my head on a pillow at night going to sleep, knowing that I haven’t done everything that I promised those people that I would do,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Now call me crazy, call me stupid. They can call the names they want, but you know, I want to be able to go back and live with these people.

“I live in the communities they live in. I want to be able to look them in the eye and say, ‘I’ve done my job for you, and you judge me, not commentators’.

“Not people sitting on the sideline that haven’t been in politics for 30 years, but people that understand that they want outcomes, and they expect me to deliver it, and I’ll deliver it.”

Liberals leader Sussan Ley said her party did not rule out the policies but wanted a blanket review of election policies in the wake of the Coalition’s decimation.

Wild live TV snub

The Coalition split keeps getting messier after Nationals senator Matt Canavan was ditched by deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien on live TV.

Today host Karl Stefanovic said Mr O’Brien had agreed to appear alongside Mr Canavan on the show out of courtesy but bailed just minutes before the pair were set to go on air.

“We asked deputy Liberal leader Ted O’Brien on the show last night, and he agreed this morning, out of courtesy,” Stefanovic said.

“We told him Matt Canavan was coming on too and all seemed okay. And then 20 minutes ago, his team rang, saying he won’t come on with Canavan.

“I mean, you can’t make it up. It’s like MAFS, the Canberra edition.”

Senator Canavan took the snub in stride, declaring: “I don’t know, I definitely don’t have a problem with Ted or anybody in the parliament.

“My number one focus is always about what I can do for people,” he said.

The senator, who recently lost a challenge for the Nationals leadership, said he had spent the night before away from his family to “help the Australian people”.

“I do think that this is the best thing for the Australian people, we need to take up the fight on, on issues for people that are struggling,” he said.

“I think we’ve held ourselves back a bit as the Nationals party in the past few years, we haven’t fought enough.”

Senator Canavan declared the relationship between the parties was strictly “business” and not a “marriage” and the Coalition split shouldn’t be referred to as a divorce.

“(Divorce) is very dramatic, but this is simply a business arrangement between two political parties,” Senator Canavan said.

“We are separate political parties. We will now fight separately within the in the parliament, but we’ll work together where we can as well.”

He continued, saying that the “best approach for both parties right now is to pause”.

“The Liberal Party have a lot of issues to work out subsequent to the election, which was a terrible result. I just think this is the best for both parties that we work those things out separately.”

Speaking shortly after to ABC, Mr O’Brien denied there was a snub, saying his last-minute no-show was a “confusion” and he was “happy to appear anywhere”.

“The blood is not that bad at all. I will have to have a chat to Matt at some point this morning, I don’t know the full history of exactly what happened there,” he said.

“To be honest, I was asked this in an interview only about 10 minutes ago. As far as I was concerned, there was some confusion about who would be with me on the show. It went from, I think Annastacia Palaszczuk to Matt, we were thinking.

“As I have said before, I am happy to go back on … I have never said no to an interview, right? I am happy to appear anywhere.”

ABC Breakfast host James Glenday also asked Mr O’Brien his opinion on a comment by former prime minister John Howard, who labelled the split as “stupid”.

“I think John Howard is right, in that I too wish that the Coalition would stay together,” Mr O’Brien said.

“It was more than disappointing that the National Party took the decision yesterday to break away from the Coalition, I think we’re stronger together.

“My hope is that, over time, the National Party will draw the same conclusion that we are better together than we are apart and as Sussan (Ley) has made clear, our door of the Liberal Party remains open.”

Speaking on ABC Radio, he added that the Nationals Deputy leader Kevin Hogan would’ve been the “appropriate person” to discuss the issue with on the segment.

“So as my team, I’m sure, would have made it clear to them that Kevin Hogan, as the deputy leader of the National Party, would be the appropriate person with whom I can engage on this issue of the split, I would have thought the more appropriate person would be Kevin Hogan as the deputy,” Mr O’Brien said.

‘Can’t walk past’: What caused Coalition split

Nationals leader David Littleproud said he didn’t “want to be fighting for three years” for Coalition guarantees.

“It was a principled position. We couldn’t get a guarantee that policies that were important to regional Australia, that were a Coalition policy before the last election around regional Australia’s future … we didn’t ask for a lot, but we couldn’t get that guarantee,” he said.

“And these are things that would change the lives of regional Australians and we don’t want to be fighting for three years to try and get that.”

Mr Littleproud was also asked if compromise with the Liberals was on the table in order to still operate in government.

“I won’t be in parliament unless I stand up and get what’s needed for the people that I represent,” he said.

“But you can’t give them that from opposition. You have to do that from government.

“If the Liberal Party can get to a point of agreement on these policy agreement, we’re happy to sit down and talk, and I’ve made it clear the door’s always open. It always will be. But this was a threshold question that our party room could not walk past.”

Mr Littleproud said he wanted the Nationals to return to the Coalition but not at the cost of regional Australian values.

‘Wouldn’t listen’: Hume reveals new detail on Coalition breakdown

Liberal senator Jane Hume blasted the Nationals’ decision to walk away from the political union in her own morning TV appearance on Wednesday.

“The Liberal Party are very disappointed that the National Party have chosen to walk away from the Coalition agreement,” she told Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

“Sussan Ley has said we want to do a full review of our policy suite. That’s fair and reasonable after an election loss like the one that have just had.

“(The Nationals) wouldn’t listen. that doesn’t mean any particular policy will be abandoned nor does it guarantee it will be adopted — a review is entirely the right decision.”

Senator Hume also took a gibe at the Cabinet solidarity, which she said was a “sticking point”.

“The Nationals wanted the ability to essentially dissent in Cabinet, to walk out of Cabinet with some people with one view and some people with another,” she said.

“That’s not how Cabinet works in a functioning government, indeed a functioning Opposition … having Cabinet consensus and solidarity is fundamentally important.”

However, she said the “door is always open” for a reunification, declaring the Coalition are “stronger together”.

“I know the National Party believe themselves to be the party of regional Australia and rural Australia, but we also have some seats that are held by the Liberal Party that are in regional and rural Australia as well,” she said.

“Which is why we have that much more broader perspective in the Liberal Party … but we know that we need to make sure we listen to the messages of the last election, that we heed those messages and respond to them.”

Howard issues plea after Coalition split

Other critics have weighed in on the dissolution of the century-long partnership.

Mr Howard pleaded for the Coalition to reunite, declaring their partnership “the glory days” for both parties.

Speaking to Andrew Bolt on Sky on Tuesday night, Mr Howard said he was “very deeply sorry” that the separation had happened.

“I urge both parties to work overtime to put the Coalition back together again because all the history of Australia suggests that the glory days of the Liberal Party and the National Party, the old Country Party, are when they are working together in government

“My experience as a Liberal leader and as a Coalition prime minister is that when you have a strong Coalition and plenty of trust, you can resolve many policy differences.”

This comes after the Coalition made a shock decision to split on Tuesday.

Speaking to Paul Murray on Tuesday night, Mr Littleproud was also questioned on what had gone so wrong.

“With the circumstances that Sussan (Ley) had, in terms of wanting to be able to announce a shadow cabinet which meant a Coalition agreement had to be done in the coming days,” he said.

“But not being able to give us that comfort or guarantee that those policies that we’re looking at could be guaranteed because she wanted to go through a longer period of policy formation that we could not sign up to because these are hard fought wins that change the lives of people in regional Australia.”