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Liberal, Nationals leaders nutting out power share deal

Liberal, Nationals leaders nutting out power share deal

Perth Now15-05-2025
After a bruising election defeat, Liberal leader Sussan Ley and Nationals leader David Littleproud will meet to chart a different course for a depleted coalition.
The pair will hold their first formal talks on Thursday to set up a coalition agreement between the parties, which is renewed after every election.
Mr Littleproud is travelling to Ms Ley's home in Albury, in regional NSW, for the meeting.
The coalition agreement will help to determine how frontbench positions are carved up between the parties in the next parliament, as well as positions on policy.
Issues over where the coalition goes on its nuclear policy or its net-zero emissions targets by 2050 are also set to feature in discussions.
Nationals senator Bridget McKenzie has called for the junior coalition partner to have a bigger seat at the table.
"(The coalition) is a very successful partnership over a long period of time, but it shouldn't be taken for granted," she told Nine's Today program.
"The National Party, proportionately, did incredibly well. We haven't had this amount of political clout within the coalition since the '70s."
While the Nationals retained nearly all of its lower house seats at the election, it lost the NSW seat of Calare to Andrew Gee, a former National who defected from the party to serve as an independent.
The coalition have won 43 seats in the 150-seat House of Representatives, while the opposition has 26 seats in the Senate with counting still continuing.
Senator McKenzie said the Nationals needed to have a bigger say in the frontbench make up of the party.
"We want to see see a whole raft of not just number of portfolios, but the way the coalition operates, and indeed, the type of portfolios that we hold," she said.
Elsewhere, Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has expressed his desire to one day lead the party.
The West Australian was touted as a contender in the recent Liberal leadership contest, but did not put his hand up.
In a podcast interview, Mr Hastie said while family reasons prevented him from standing for leadership, he wanted to one day lead the party.
"I'd be foolish to say I don't have a desire to lead, I do have a desire to lead," he told the Labor-aligned Curtin's Cast.
"The timing was all out for personal reasons."
Just days into her role as opposition leader, Ms Ley said the coalition needed to listen to the message it received from voters at the ballot box.
"We must listen, change and develop a fresh approach," she wrote in an opinion piece.
"To all Australians, those who did vote for us and those who didn't, we will work day and night to earn your trust over the next three years.
"Now more than ever, the federal Liberal Party must respect modern Australia, reflect modern Australia and represent modern Australia."
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