Mark Riley: The real reason the Nats are blowing up the Coalition (and it’s nothing to do with Sussan Ley)

Sussan Ley was talking about the national response to the Bondi massacre, but she may as well have been speaking directly to her Nationals colleagues. Addressing the House of Representatives early on Wednesday morning after the shambolic scenes that accompanied the passing of tougher hate crime laws the previous night, Ley pleaded for one thing: unity. “We must unite with determination,” she said. Little did she know that at that moment members of the Nationals seated behind her were secretly texting each other, plotting to again disunite from her and the Liberal Party — this time for good. And it looks like they have succeeded. Nationals leader David Littleproud has declared the Coalition is now “in an untenable position that can no longer continue”. At least with Sussan Ley as Liberal leader. Indeed, Littleproud has put all this on Ley. And directly. But the truth is that he presented her with an ultimatum she could not ignore. She had no option but to sack the three renegade Nationals frontbenchers who defied shadow cabinet solidarity to vote against the Government’s hate crimes legislation. Parliamentary convention dictated that frontbenchers Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald and Ross Cadell had to tender their resignations from the frontbench after crossing the floor. And politically, Ley had to accept them. Not doing so would have made her look weak. Littleproud knew that and proceeded to set her up to fail anyway. He warned Ley that if she did accept the resignations, all Nationals frontbenchers would resign from shadow cabinet in protest — including him. And in an emergency virtual party room meeting on Wednesday night, that is exactly what the Nationals decided to do. It was obvious to Littleproud then that the effect would be to blow up the Coalition. Again. This time possibly for good. And he knew it would play into the hands of Ley’s Liberal rivals, starting the clock on a now inevitable leadership challenge. But he proceeded anyway. Some Nationals say he only did so to save his own leadership. A growing section of his party room was intent on blowing up the Coalition and Ley’s leadership with it. If Littleproud refused to do it, they were happy to get rid of him, too. Littleproud accused Ley yesterday of putting her leadership before the interests of the Coalition. But it seems that is exactly what he’s done himself. The ascendant separatists in the Nationals party room have now used the Bondi massacre legislation to achieve their aim. The Coalition is in ruins. Ley’s leadership appears terminal and Littleproud’s isn’t as solid as he would like to think. The question is why has this happened? And why now? It is no coincidence that this Coalition demolition has come just days after Newspoll revealed One Nation outpolling the Liberals and Nationals for the first time ever. That freaked the Nationals’ beak. Several Nats are now saying that without the Liberals dragging them towards the centre they will be free to fight their real threat on the right — One Nation. But they will be doing it without one of their major advantages. Up until now, the Nationals have been able to argue that they are a credible party of government. Unlike One Nation. Not anymore. Without the Liberals as partners, they are just another minor party. And they have only a third of One Nation’s support in the polls. And now the Liberal leadership hopefuls are again circling Sussan Ley. Angus Taylor’s and Andrew Hastie’s phones must be running off the hook. And Western Sydney Liberal leadership aspirant Melissa McIntosh has suddenly posted on Facebook that: “I have a very good relationship with Nationals Leader David Littleproud and my colleagues in the Nationals.” Subtle? Not in the slightest. The biggest beneficiary of all this? Anthony Albanese. He entered this week under the most intense pressure of his prime ministership. He leaves it with parliamentary victories on both his gun laws and anti-hate legislation and with the Coalition diverting all the political attention onto itself. What a bunch of geniuses. And unity? There’s none of that. Mark Riley is the Seven Network’s political editor