Image from NT News
Speaking on the split between the Liberals and Nationals Dr Zareh Ghazarian, Head of Politics and International Relations Discipline, Monash School of Social Sciences says that:
“In effect, the dissolution of the coalition agreement is going to potentially liberate both the Liberal and National parties, for the time being, to get their policy settings in order. Obviously this is a really significant point in time for the future of the Liberal Party. To examine the decision we need to be looking at how the parties performed at the election. The Nationals held ground generally, while the Liberals went backwards. So the Nationals are probably feeling a bit emboldened that they have got the constituency behind them. The Liberals, on the other hand, are really struggling, so this will give them some time to recalibrate as they move towards the future.
“The Liberals and Nationals have always been separate parties who have worked cooperatively together, and we have seen cases at a state level where coalition agreements have been dissolved. But we also see perennially that the question comes up on whether these parties should formally merge, and we’ve seen that happen with the LNP in Queensland, so it will be interesting to see how the new arrangement plays out in practice. What we do know is that the Liberals will continue to be recognised as the official Opposition, as the party with the second highest representation, and there are funding and shadow Cabinet entitlements that come with that.
“There is a fundamental difference over policy at the moment, with the Liberal Party having conservative elements and socially progressive elements. How they reconcile the difference between the conservatives and progressives is part of the problem for them to face going forward. There is a road map they could follow in the Howard Government, which included both conservatives and progressives in Cabinet. In terms of policy, it’s not either-or – it can be a combination. But what the party needs to do is also have an ear to the ground and a clear sense of what is palatable to the electorate. Ultimately, the way this next phase of the party progresses will be up to the craft of the leader and how she can pull it off.”
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It has always been anomalous to have a coalition whilst in opposition: there's no point!
Normally a party will form a coalition with another group to gain the numbers to govern as no doubt these clowns will do should they ever again achieve the numbers to form a majority.
The question now is, will the Queensland LNP de-merge or does anybody really care ?
Neither the Liberal Party nor the National Party can win a Federal Election in their own right. That suggests to me that neither can obtain a mandate from the electorate for government therefore a coalition is just a confabulation to obtain power by any means. The coalition is always dominated by the Liberals ("born to rule") thus, the National Party invariably must negotiate it's position often at the expense of strongly held philosophies that reflect the aspirations of the rural electors.
The country party can now go more country, or bovine, simian, nematode, barnabarian, whatever, with its toy poodly leader, who can now devote more time to completing colouring in essential books...while the liberal "leader" can again follow donor driven greedery. Time will tell.., or smell.., oh hell.