The Liberal and National parties have struck a deal to reunify, a week after the Coalition’s extraordinary split in the wake of a ruinous election defeat.
The ABC has been told a press conference will be held later today, and that frontbench positions are being allocated.
Nationals Leader David Littleproud announced last Tuesday that his party would be ending the Coalition Agreement with the Liberals over four policy issues the party demanded be kept.
Days later, the Liberal Party agreed in principle not to include those policies — nuclear power, a Regional Australia Future Fund, break-up powers for the supermarket sector and better mobile coverage in the bush — in a sweeping review of the Coalition’s election loss.
The split has led to days of infighting and jostling between the parties.
In contention was also a claim that Mr Littleproud demanded the Nationals be free to breach cabinet solidarity and be allowed to speak out against policies they disagreed with, which Ms Ley flatly refused.
The opposition leader initially did not want to rule out any policies from a total review of the Coalition’s election loss.
But Mr Littleproud said his party would not “blink” on its four policy demands, and repeated over the weekend that he was proud to stand up for Nationals principles and deliver the message to Ms Ley that his party had voted to leave.
Internally, however, leadership questions have roiled within the Nationals, with the party leader openly saying on Sunday that if the cost of taking a stand would be that he lost his job, so be it.
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