Sussan Ley and David Littleproud face uncertain futures following Coalition split

Liberal MPs are acknowledging Sussan Ley’s days as Opposition Leader are numbered, while members of the Nationals are also debating who should head their party following the Coalition’s second break up since last year’s devastating election defeat.

Inside Liberal ranks there is still no certainty on which candidate should challenge Ms Ley for the leadership or whether a special party room meeting will be called before Parliament’s scheduled return in early February.

Shadow Defence Minister Angus Taylor, who is returning from a European holiday this week, is believed to have built up support over summer, while fellow Liberal leadership rival Andrew Hastie is defending his decision to support the hate speech bill this week.

Some Nationals MPs are also despairing at their prospects under David Littleproud’s leadership, as Pauline Hanson’s One Nation party continues to surge in popularity, and her star recruit Barnaby Joyce likens the Coalition’s dramas to a dysfunctional marriage.

On Thursday Mr Littleproud confirmed the Nationals would again break away from the Liberals blaming Ms Ley for “forcing the Coalition into an untenable position that can no longer continue”.

Mr Littleproud says he informed Ms Ley that the Nationals were leaving the Coalition, a day after all the party’s frontbenchers quit the shadow ministry over the opposition’s handling of hate laws in response to the Bondi attack.

“It’s done. I spoke to Sussan Ley about half an hour ago and made her fully aware,” Mr Littleproud told reporters on Thursday.

During their phone call, Ms Ley urged the Nationals Leader to pause all public comments for 24 hours, given the National Day of Mourning being held on Thursday for the 15 victims killed at Bondi Beach.

The Nationals leader says he gave the Opposition Leader a chance to stop the move by reinstating the trio of senators who were dumped from the frontbench after they crossed the floor on Tuesday to vote against the Government’s legislation.

“I rang her about 30 minutes ago and told her that the party room’s decision was final. That, unless those three were reinstated immediately, then she forced the Coalition into an untenable position,” he said.

Barnaby Joyce has likened the Coalition’s dramas to a dysfunctional marriage

The Nationals Leader said it would be too late now for Ms Ley to reinstate the dumped shadow ministers, but he has not ruled out rejoining the Coalition in the future.

“I cannot stand by and have three courageous senators who put their jobs on the line for no reason that has any veracity whatsoever, to be disrespected and our party, and our party’s process and our decisions”.

“That is the beauty of the democracy that we live in, that we should have the right to go there and have a difference of opinion.

“We accept there are processes within the Coalition that we need to adhere to at times. But there was never a trigger moment for that.

“If these three senators could not be accepted, then our Coalition has become untenable.”

In a statement Ms Ley said today’s focus “must be on Jewish Australians, indeed all Australians, as we mourn the victims of the Bondi terrorist attack”.

“This is a National Day of Mourning and my responsibility as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Liberal Party is to Australians in mourning,” she added.

Opposition frontbencher Melissa McIntosh took to social media on Thursday to argue “the Liberal and National Parties as a Coalition represent the citizens of our nation best when we are strong, together and focussed.”

“I want the Liberal and Nationals to stay together. Our country needs the hope that we bring in the cities, the suburbs and the regions,” the Liberal MP wrote.

“After what happened in Bondi I have promised I would look for the light, and the hope. Australia needs that now more than ever.” Former Nationals leader turned One Nation defector Barnaby Joyce has likened the Coalition’s dramas to a dysfunctional marriage, claiming “it puts Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to shame”.

“They come out of the election - they’re married, then they get divorced, but only for 48 hours, then get it all back together again - and they’re married again. And now they’re getting upset, they’ve run out of the house and they’re getting divorced”.

“This puts Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor to shame. This is more marriages than a weekend at the Gold Coast. It’s just not working. That is crazy,” he told reporters in Tamworth.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has also leapt on the Opposition turmoil, describing the Coalition as a “smoking ruin” that is not fit to run the country.

“We know that Sussan Ley’s days as Opposition Leader are numbered, but to be fair to her, all the alternatives in the former Coalition are worse.”

“Angus Taylor put a policy forward for higher deficits, and Ted O’Brien wanted to build nuclear reactors and push prices up, Andrew Hastie makes Tony Abbott look like a sensible moderate”.

“I think the kindest thing you can say about the Coalition is that it is a smoking ruin. I think they are paying a price for putting internal politics before public safety this week in the parliament,” Mr Chalmers told reporters.

“The reason why the Coalition parties look like a three-ring circus is because the Libs and the Nats and One Nation wannabes are trying to be the paler shade of orange as they chase bigger and bigger extremes on the political spectrum.”