UPDATED: The National Party of Australia has announced it will be splitting from its Coalition agreement with the Liberal Party.
This ends a decades-long partnership between the two parties, with National leader David Littleproud confirming the decision after a "respectful conversation" with newly-minted Liberal leader Sussan Ley this morning.
“The National Party will sit alone on a principle basis,” Littleproud told the press.
"She is a leader that needs to rebuild the Liberal Party. They are going on a journey of rediscovery, and this will provide them the opportunity to do that without the spectre of the National Party imposing their will," he continued.
Nuclear power plans, regional infrastructure funding and supermarket divestiture powers were key points in the dissolution of the Coalition agreement, but Littleproud said he hasn't ruled out formally working together again in the future.
"I gave her the commitment that I'll work with her every day to help to try to rebuild the relationship to enter into a Coalition before the next election," he said.
"I have faith in [Ley]. I actually think it is conceivable she can win the next election," Littleproud said.
Discussions of a Nationals split had been brewing for days prior to the announcement, with the party's deputy leader Kevin Hogan saying yesterday they would “absolutely” walk away from the Coalition rather than “selling out our constituents and the people we represent”.
However, he conceded that his party would not currently have a chance of winning government in their own right without the Liberals.
“Obviously we are geographically constrained from where we represent. That would never happen. But if we did and we had to renegotiate another Coalition agreement I would take it price will be higher than the one now.”
Another Nationals member weighed in this morning, with Senator Matt Canavan telling Sky News that if the split occurred the Nationals would keep “fighting for the people”.
"What all of our Nationals members will always do is fight for the interest of the people we represent," Canavan said.
"This is not really about ourselves; this is about making sure we get good outcomes in the long term for the Australian people.
