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Have the Nationals blown themselves up? · The Front

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: From The Australian. Here's what's on the front. I'm Claire Harvey.
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: It's Wednesday, May twenty twenty five. Mortgage rates are on
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  Speaker 1: the way down, with the Reserve Bank Board lowering the
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  Speaker 1: cash rate by zero point two five percent to three
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  Speaker 1: point eight five percent. Economists a warning inflation could rise again,
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  Speaker 1: but the Bank says it's confident now is the right
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  Speaker 1: time to ease up on homeowners. All our analysis and
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  Speaker 1: how the housing and the lending markets are reacting is
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: live right now at the Australian dot Com Dot You
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: A whole new reality in Australian politics. The century old
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  Speaker 1: coalition of Conservative parties is breaking up, with National Party
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  Speaker 1: leader David Littlproud giving Liberal leader Susan Lee thirty minutes
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  Speaker 1: notice the Nats were out today. What that actually means
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  Speaker 1: for the Conservative side of politics and everyone else? It's
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  Speaker 1: not you, Actually, it is you.
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  Speaker 2: This is one of the hardest political decisions of my life.
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  Speaker 1: National Party leader David Little Proud dropped a bombshell on
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  Speaker 1: Liberal leader Susan Lee on Tuesday, telling her his party
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  Speaker 1: would no longer be in a formal coalition with the Liberals.
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  Speaker 2: It's with great disappointment that I announced that we're not
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  Speaker 2: going to form part of that coalition.
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  Speaker 1: Dennis Shanahan is The Australian's national editor and someone who's
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: covered the Libs and the Nats and all the quirks
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: of their relationship for many years. They can never, of
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  Speaker 1: course govern in their own right unless something massive changes
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  Speaker 1: Dennis and the Nationals suddenly start winning seats in the
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  Speaker 1: cities as well. Do you think that this is a
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  Speaker 1: temporary move and it's a negotiating tactic where David Little
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  Speaker 1: Proud will hope to once again bring the Nationals back
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  Speaker 1: into a coalition party room, or is this an attempt
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  Speaker 1: to have bigger ambitions for the National Party.
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  Speaker 3: I think if it's an attempt to have bigger round
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  Speaker 3: for the National Party, it's pretty misguided. David Little Proud
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  Speaker 3: clearly in the manner of delivering an ultimatum to Susan
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  Speaker 3: Lee and simply saying We've got thirty minutes to talk
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  Speaker 3: about that and then I'm going out to a press conference,
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  Speaker 3: he put up proposals which were clearly not acceptable and
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  Speaker 3: impractical and really didn't require any split and a coalition
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  Speaker 3: to resolve. It was all about the National Party it
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  Speaker 3: was about the National Party leadership and the revolt about
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  Speaker 3: being in the coalition, anger at the loss by the Liberals,
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  Speaker 3: and so what David Little Proud has done, he said,
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  Speaker 3: I'm not interested in the coalition now because there's no
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  Speaker 3: advantage to it at all. All the advantage to him
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  Speaker 3: is to run his own show. However, I think what
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  Speaker 3: he's actually done is probably completely undermined Susan Lee's leadership
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  Speaker 3: and in doing so, just about guaranteed his leadership won't
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  Speaker 3: last either.
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  Speaker 1: Let's look at the issues that he says this is
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  Speaker 1: all about. And he was doing quite a bit of
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  Speaker 1: finger wagging and telling the journalists in the room that
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  Speaker 1: they might not understand, but this was a principal decision.
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  Speaker 2: We're being pragmatic. This is a principal position. So it
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  Speaker 2: may be foreign to some of you, but we are
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  Speaker 2: making this on principles about how we actually deliver for
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  Speaker 2: the people we represent and to allow the Liberal Party.
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  Speaker 1: The Nationals have a different view to the Liberals on
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  Speaker 1: nuclear power, on the forced breakup of big supermarket chains,
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  Speaker 1: of the establishment of a twenty billion dollar Regional Future Fund,
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  Speaker 1: and on service obligations for regional areas for people in
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  Speaker 1: the regions.
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  Speaker 2: What we fight for every day. That's the principal position
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  Speaker 2: we took that we needed to have comfort.
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  Speaker 1: Around how important are those issues? Dennis, was this really
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  Speaker 1: all about principles?
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  Speaker 3: Well, going backwards, the regional fund. Really it's off budget.
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  Speaker 3: It's something that could easily have been accommodator. That's not
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  Speaker 3: a problem as far as nuclear power is concerned. It
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  Speaker 3: was working on an agnostic basis saying this is where
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  Speaker 3: the Liberals are going, and don't forget that former Nat
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  Speaker 3: Country Liberal Party just since a Nampajimpa Price has said
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  Speaker 3: nuclear is the only way to achieve net zero. So
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  Speaker 3: if the Liberals want to keep net zero, one of
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  Speaker 3: their star recruits is saying you have to have nuclear again.
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  Speaker 4: It was one of.
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  Speaker 3: Those areas where you could have resolved certain issues.
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  Speaker 4: The Nats and the Liberals have done this for years.
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  Speaker 3: So I think that what we actually have here is
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  Speaker 3: a National Party leader looking for principled reasons to provide
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  Speaker 3: a justifiable cause for splitting the coalition for the first
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  Speaker 3: time in a very long time and allowing him to
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  Speaker 3: be seen as the new Nationals leader. I don't think
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  Speaker 3: it's working. I don't think anyone, particularly a lot of
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  Speaker 3: the Liberals buy this idea, and by the way, there
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  Speaker 3: aren't a lot of Nationals who buy this either.
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  Speaker 1: Coming up more from my conversation with Dennis Shanahan, would
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  Speaker 1: it be fair enough for Susan Lee and some of
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  Speaker 1: the Liberals to have a bit of a bitter taste
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  Speaker 1: in their mouths, Dennis, given that it's the National's position
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  Speaker 1: on some big issues that have resulted in the coalition
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  Speaker 1: overall and the Liberal Party looking like they were more
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  Speaker 1: conservative than perhaps some Liberals would have wanted. I'm thinking
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  Speaker 1: of the National's reluctance to embrace, for example, the transition
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  Speaker 1: to renewable energy in the past. Although some Liberals did
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  Speaker 1: want to go faster, they had to bring the Nationals
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  Speaker 1: along with them.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, the net zero omissions by twenty fifty was a
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  Speaker 3: negotiated agreement between the Nationals and the Liberals.
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  Speaker 4: Both leaders gone.
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  Speaker 3: But what we're actually seeing here is the suggestion that
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  Speaker 3: the moderate Liberals have a different view to the conservative Nationals.
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  Speaker 4: And duh, this has always been the case.
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  Speaker 3: If you want to see some real differences, think about
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  Speaker 3: some of the old Country Party leaders. Boy did they
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  Speaker 3: have some differences with the Liberals, but they survived in coalition,
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  Speaker 3: and there were some really tough National Party leaders with John.
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  Speaker 4: Howard who worked with him.
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  Speaker 3: Look at Tim Fisher worked with John Howard on gun reform.
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  Speaker 4: That was a big issue for the Nationals.
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  Speaker 3: They didn't want to touch it, and yet Tim Fisher
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  Speaker 3: brought the Nationals along. Now, that was a much tougher
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  Speaker 3: issue than something about supermarket chains. And yet the coalition
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  Speaker 3: survived because John Howard and Tim Fisher were coalitionists. John
• 7:01
  Speaker 3: Howard after the Port Arthur massacre, and this was only
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  Speaker 3: a few weeks after John Howard had become Prime minister.
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  Speaker 3: It was the biggest massacre in Australian history and what
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  Speaker 3: the Prime Minister knew then was that we had to
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  Speaker 3: change the gun laws.
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  Speaker 5: At least thirty four people were killed and four others
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  Speaker 5: critically wounded when a twenty nine year old gunman with
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  Speaker 5: a history of mental problems opened fire in a popular
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  Speaker 5: tourist area. The cournage came to an annually after the
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  Speaker 5: gunman caught fire following a twelve hour standoff with police.
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  Speaker 4: This was an imperative, it was a moral decision he took.
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  Speaker 3: But to get that politics through, to get the legislation through,
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  Speaker 3: to get through with popular support. He needed the national
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  Speaker 3: support because this was a very difficult issue. Gun control
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  Speaker 3: was very much opposed in the regional areas. I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 3: and yet Tim Fisher, as leader of the Nationals, worked
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  Speaker 3: with John Howard hand in fist and said no, we
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  Speaker 3: are going to work on this, and they carried it.
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  Speaker 3: And there's no doubt it cost the Nationals because it
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  Speaker 3: built support for.
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  Speaker 4: Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party.
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  Speaker 3: And yet we saw the coalition survive such a severe
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  Speaker 3: test to the advantage of the national interest. You can
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  Speaker 3: work around these differences and you can turn them into
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  Speaker 3: a strength without blowing up the bus.
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  Speaker 1: Do you think, Dennis, that it's in the best interest
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  Speaker 1: for the Liberals to keep working, be patient, hope that
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  Speaker 1: the Nationals come back to the coalition, or to look
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  Speaker 1: at other options. Should they think about going into coalition,
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  Speaker 1: for example with the Teals.
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  Speaker 3: It's funny you should mention that because I had a
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  Speaker 3: message from someone who shall remain named, suggesting that I
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: reread The Gbung Polo Club by Banjo Patterson. Now, the
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  Speaker 3: Gbung Polo Club is about a polo match on a
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  Speaker 3: rocky field between the Collis and Ties. The bosses and
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  Speaker 3: cockies and the whole bunch of scrub dwelling stockman. In
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  Speaker 3: the end, everyone on the Gbung Polo Club match is
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  Speaker 3: killed until the last moment the captain of the collis
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  Speaker 3: and Ties stirs himself.
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  Speaker 4: Although mortally wounded, he.
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  Speaker 3: Makes his way back onto his pony, charges towards the
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  Speaker 3: goalposts and hits the ball and misses.
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  Speaker 4: So it ended in a tie with them all dead.
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  Speaker 3: This was what the reference to the Gbung Polo Club
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  Speaker 3: was all about. That without each other, they will all die,
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  Speaker 3: and the Nationals at facing like so many more conservative
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  Speaker 3: parties regional parties in Europe, that what will happen to them?
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  Speaker 4: They'll be reduced to a rump.
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  Speaker 3: Now, the Liberal Party is more likely to attract some
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  Speaker 3: of the Teals and have some sort of a coalition.
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  Speaker 3: But remember most of those Teals, or all of those
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  Speaker 3: Teals have come from Liberal seats, so there's no great
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  Speaker 3: advantage for the Liberals in forming a coalition with the Teals.
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  Speaker 3: They have to win those Teal seats back. But if
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  Speaker 3: they wish to get back to government, the Nationals will
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  Speaker 3: have to come back to the coalition. And this is
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  Speaker 3: the question for David Little Proud because in three years time,
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  Speaker 3: facing an election, and who knows what may have happened
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  Speaker 3: by then. And then the question is what happens to
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  Speaker 3: David Little Proud if he is against the coalition and
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  Speaker 3: a majority of Liberals and Nationals say, if we have
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  Speaker 3: any hope of winning, any hope of even getting back seats,
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  Speaker 3: we need a coalition, where does that put him with
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  Speaker 3: his thirty minute ultimatum decision.
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  Speaker 1: Lee des Shanahan is The Australian's National editor. You can
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  Speaker 1: read all his analysis, plus all the rest of our
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: expertise on Canberra and politics from the rest of the country,
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: right now at the Australian dot com dot au