00:00National's leader, David Littleproud, says there were four key policies that he wanted
00:06this firm commitment to from the Liberal Party to be able to move forward with a coalition
00:12agreement.
00:13And the Liberals said that was highly unusual.
00:15They say that when you go into one of these coalition agreements, typically it's more
00:20about divvying up the front bench positions among the two parties.
00:24But David Littleproud said that he wanted an agreement on four key policy areas, including
00:30nuclear power, also quite a large regional fund, universal access to phones in parts of
00:37the bush or all parts of the bush, I should say, and then divestiture powers to be able
00:41to break up supermarkets if they do the wrong thing.
00:46And the Liberals said that because of such a thumping loss just a few weeks ago, they
00:51really wanted to put all of their policies on the table for review.
00:55But of course, the Nationals said that they wanted a commitment on these four areas.
01:00Bridget McKenzie responded this morning.
01:03The leader of the Liberal Party decided to put all of our policies that only three weeks
01:07ago we fought an election on suddenly up for review.
01:11There were some of those that we believe shouldn't have been dealt in that manner.
01:17Now, that was a decision for her, and we've made the very serious, thoughtful decision that
01:23at this time, we are going it alone and standing up for the nine million Australians who don't
01:28live in capital cities.
01:29And that's what we're focused on going forward.
01:32There's also been concern from Liberal leader Susan Lee that she wasn't going to get solidarity
01:38within shadow cabinet.
01:39So she was concerned about a situation where shadow cabinet would come to an agreement on
01:45a policy, and then when that policy was brought up in Parliament, that there would be Nationals
01:50MPs who would cross the floor and sit on the opposing side.
01:53And so that was clearly a worry for the Liberals.
01:56Evelyn, there's been disappointment from some Liberals, including John Howard.
02:01How are senior Liberals responding today?
02:04Yeah, look, John Howard hasn't minced his words, calling it stupid, saying he's very concerned,
02:10and also raising the idea that the longer the two parties spend apart, the harder it will
02:16be to come back together and sort of reunite on policy positions.
02:21The Deputy Liberal leader, Ted O'Brien, was asked about Mr Howard's comments this morning.
02:26John Howard's right in that I too wish that the coalition would stay together.
02:32I think it was more than disappointing that the National Party took the decision yesterday
02:39to break away from the coalition.
02:42I think we're stronger together.
02:44I'm a coalitionist.
02:46I know Susan Lee is certainly a coalitionist.
02:49And my hope is that over time, the National Party will draw the same conclusion that we are
02:55better together than we are apart.
02:58And as Susan's made clear, our door of the Liberal Party remains open.
03:04So, look, clearly disappointment there from the Liberals.
03:07But some are being understanding, trying to see the silver lining in all of this as a chance
03:13to really reflect, learn the lessons from the May 3 poll and make the differences that
03:20the Australian public clearly want the Liberal Party to do.
03:23There has also been some Liberal figures, though, that aren't willing to put their names
03:28to comments just yet, but expressing that the Nationals sort of were, I guess, impacting
03:34on their appeal in the cities.
03:36And that is certainly what the electorate voted back on May 3, that they didn't endorse the
03:42Liberals in a number of key city seats.
03:45That ended up being a real problem for them.
03:46That is not true.
03:47Here are three people.
03:47That is true.
03:48There are three people.
03:49That is the one.
03:50ичего prayer in the country has the otherich amis, but for them, they are important for them.
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