Nationals leader David Littleproud — live sheep exports a hard line we would not cross.

NATIONALS leader David Littleproud has added a further proviso to his party returning to a coalition with the Liberal Party under leader Susan Ley – support for live sheep and cattle exports by sea.

In a press conference yesterday, Mr Littleproud said he would not support a Liberal-Nationals Coalition that supported the Labor Party’s ban on live sheep exports by sea.

“No, and I made that very clear in the last Parliament,” Mr Littleproud said.

“I made that very clear that we would not be part of any Coalition that banned the live export of animals out of this country.

“That is a hard line we would not cross.”

As a Liberal backbencher Sussan Ley initially supported live sheep exports, but after losing confidence in the trade’s regulatory regime, in 2018 she brought forward the Live Sheep Long Haul Export Prohibition Bill 2018. The bill would have banned live sheep exports by sea in the Northern Summer from 2019 and shipments to the Middle East or to any routes through the Persian Gulf or Red Sea within five years.

During the election, former Liberal leader Peter Dutton and Mr Littleproud committed to continuing the export of sheep by sea if the Liberal-Nationals Coalition was elected.

However, although Ms Ley has reportedly told Liberal colleagues that all policies were now up for review, her office has told Sheep Central the Liberal leader’s stance on live sheep exports had not been affected by the Nationals departure from the Coalition.

In a 13 May press conference as Opposition leader Ms Ley said her position on the trade “is that it should continue, it is safe, it is reliable, and it meets the animal welfare standards that it should.

She said in discussing the live sheep trade with West Australians after she became deputy Liberal leader and meeting with farmers and pastoral industry representatives, “I assured them of my stand and they would remember those conversations and I can assure them that my position remains the same.”

Unable to get key policy commitments – Littleproud

In justifying the decision to leave the Coalition Mr Littleproud yesterday said he was unable to get commitments from Sussan Ley to four key Nationals policy areas – nuclear energy, the Regional Australia Future Fund, supermarket divestiture competition laws and a Universal Service Obligation improving regional mobile phone and internet access.

Mr Littleproud said The Nationals fought hard for a package of sensible and important policies that will benefit regional Australia and the future of our nation.

“These were adopted as Coalition policies and were strongly supported by local communities.

“Following discussions with the Leader of the Liberal Party, we do not have the assurance we need that these policies will be honoured in a future Coalition agreement,” he said.

“The Nationals cannot in good conscience walk away from our commitments to regional Australia.

“We will not walk away from the $20 billion Regional Australia Future Fund, which would provide up to $1 billion extra funding every year for regional projects, from improving access to better health, child and aged care, through to fixing local roads and building new sporting facilities,” Mr Littleproud said.

“We will not walk away from ‘big stick’ divestiture competition laws that keep the big supermarkets honest and deliver fairer prices for farmers at the farmgate and families at the checkout.

“We will not walk away from an improved Universal Service Obligation for communications, forcing a better minimum standard for regional mobile and internet access,” he said.

“We will not walk away from the potential of nuclear power as a necessary element of a balanced energy mix that secures Australia’s energy security.”

Mr Littleproud said the Nationals’ party room did not take the decision lightly.

“It is made without malice. “

“When the Liberal Party is ready, our door will be open,” he said.

“We will always stand up for regional Australians and the policies that will take our nation forward.”

Policy commitments would pre-empt review process – Ley

On the ABC’s 7.30 report last night, Ms Ley told presenter Sarah Ferguson she was very disappointed the Nationals had chosen to walk away from the Coalition.

But she remained very respectful of David Littleproud and his team, friends and colleagues.

“As we go forward the door will always be open…” she said.

“The Coalition can be reformed in the future, it should be reformed in the future and we are stronger together.”

On the Nationals request for commitments on the four issues, Ms Ley said she was concerned the Liberal Party was being asked to take policy positions before she went through the policy review process she had committed to undertake.

“And that’s a compact I have with my party room, but also with the Australian people, following a serious defeat on May the 3^rd.

“We accept that with humility, I know that the Liberal Party going forward needs to respect modern Australia, reflect modern Australia and represent modern Australia,” she said.

“And that does mean an honest look at all of our policies and doing that with the support, the involvement and the real deep engagement of everybody in the party room.”

Ms Ley said in her discussions with the Nationals she also “wasn’t confident that shadow cabinet solidarity would be maintained going forward.”

“We can’t have a situation where members of the shadow cabinet sit on different sides of the parliament in different votes.”

Ms Ley indicated it was disagreement over the policy review process rather than individual polices that led to the rupture of the Coalition.

“I don’t believe that the Coalition Agreement itself should be hostage to individual policies and the approach that I made to David and his team was that we would stand up the Coalition, we would announce that it was on-foot, so to speak, we would even allocate shadow ministries according to the usual formula and we would go forward together.”

“And we would develop our separate policy process where they are separate and come together and articulate those policies in the normal way going forward,” she said.

“So that was the offer I had on the table when the Nationals decided that they wanted the commitment to four areas that they have spoken about and they wanted that up front.

“But as I said Sarah, that would have been breaking the compact that I had with my party room, but more importantly, with the Australian people,” she said.

“Because what I have front and centre is that we are here to work very hard for the people who did vote for us, but also for people who didn’t, to present a coherent alternative modern fresh narrative and to do that we need to start to engage on policy now.”

Coalition Cabinet solidarity not explicitly agreed to

A joint statement from Ms Ley, deputy leader Ted O’Brien, Senate leader Michaelia Cash, and deputy Senate leader Anne Ruston, said the Liberal Party’s door remains open to The Nationals should they wish to rejoin the Coalition before the next election.

The statement said the Coalition Agreement has conventionally been focused on the makeup of our executive anchored in our principled commitment to our shared values.

“The Nationals’ sought commitments on specific policies.

“As was explained to The Nationals, the Liberal Party’s review of election policies was not an indication that any one of them would be abandoned, nor that every single one would be adopted,” the Liberal leaders said.

“We offered to work constructively with The Nationals, respecting the party’s deeply held views on these issues.

“We asked The National Party to work constructively with us, respecting our internal processes.”

The leaders said, in good faith, the Liberals proposed appointing a joint Coalition shadow ministry now, with separate policy development in each party room and subsequent joint policy positions determined in the usual way.

“Unfortunately, The Nationals determined this was not possible.

“The Liberal Party also insisted that Shadow Cabinet solidarity be maintained in any Coalition Agreement. This was not explicitly agreed to by The Nationals,” the statement said.

“As the largest non-government political party, the Liberal Party is the official Opposition.

“A new Shadow Ministry, drawn exclusively from the Liberal Party party room, will be announced in coming days.”