Liberal leader Sussan Ley has averted a leadership challenge by offering a way to reunite the coalition, with the Nationals considering the proposal.
Speculation about right-wing rival Angus Taylor challenging Ley then reached a fever pitch the coalition was divided over Labour’s hate speech laws two weeks ago.
After holding talks with Nationals leader David Littleproud late on Monday, Ley sent a letter setting out three non-negotiables to reunite the coalition.
It included an ultimatum to suspend for six months the three senators – Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald – who crossed over from the shadow cabinet.
Littleproud said the Nationals are “considering attempts to reset the coalition” while constructive negotiations continue behind closed doors.
“It is important that we take the time to get the settings right,” he said in a statement.
However, a Nationals source, who requested anonymity to speak freely, said the suggestion of agreeing to a ban is untenable.
SBS News understands that solidarity in the shadow cabinet, the issue that led to the split, and the inability of the Liberal or National party chambers to reverse shadow cabinet decisions are also sticking points.
Ley hopes to have the matter resolved in the coming week before parliament resumes its second week of session.
Some in the Nationals party room also support a reunion. MP Darren Chester would use the meeting in the party room on Monday to table a motion to restore the coalition.
“Every moment we talk about ourselves is a license for a weak and divisive Prime Minister who has failed to deliver on his promises to cut energy bills and govern for all Australians,” he said on social media.
Ley’s offer came as her supporters – including legal affairs spokesman Andrew Wallace – flanked her on either side ahead of the Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday morning.
Wallace, who was promoted following Andrew Hastie’s resignation last October, believes “Sussan has the numbers”.
“Sussan Ley has the support of the party room, I don’t believe there is any active action against her,” he told Sky News on Tuesday.
Last May, Ley defeated Taylor by just three votes – 29 to 25 – when the party chamber voted on who would replace Peter Dutton as leader of the Liberal Party following the coalition’s heavy defeat in the federal election.
However, the retirement of two senators and the removal of Gisele Kapterian from the party room after she lost a recount in Bradfield means the numbers are actually even tighter.
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