David Littleproud to face leadership challenge after splitting Coalition
Updated . First published at
Nationals leader David Littleproud will face a spill next week, less than a fortnight after pulling his party from the federal Coalition.
MP Colin Boyce announced this morning that he will challenge Littleproud for the leadership of their party, describing the decision to split the Coalition for the second time in a year as "political suicide".
"I will be moving a spill motion on Monday afternoon in the Nationals partyroom to give my colleagues an option," he told Sky News.
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Colin Boyce has announced he will challenge David Littleproud for the leadership of the Nationals. Alex Ellinghausen
"Because the reality is, if they follow the course they're on now, they are going over a political cliff...
"I will be standing for the leadership."
While Sussan Ley's position as Liberal leader is considered tenuous following the Coalition split, with conservative rivals Andrew Hastie and Angus Taylor both eyeing off her position, Littleproud's judgement has also been drawn into question.
He and the rest of the Nationals' shadow ministry resigned en masse from the front bench last week after Ley accepted the resignation of three of the party's senators for voting against shadow cabinet solidarity.
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Littleproud's judgement has been questioned for splitting the Coalition last week. Alex Ellinghausen
The following day, while Ley didn't hold any media appearances due to the national day of mourning for the Bondi terror attack, Littleproud denied cabinet solidarity had been breached, labelled the Coalition "untenable", and said the Nationals would sit on their own in parliament.
Littleproud faced a challenge at the start of this term, when he defeated Senator Matt Canavan in a leadership ballot following last year's federal election.
There is no guarantee Boyce's spill will amount to a full-blown challenge, as a majority of the party room needs to support the motion before candidates can nominate for the leadership.
Canavan has all but ruled out a repeat challenge this time, telling the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age Boyce's spill was news to him.
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"I see no reason to change our team now," he said.
However, Boyce, who has been in federal parliament since 2022, said the Nationals needed to change direction, and remain in the Coalition to challenge the increasing threat from One Nation.
"David has made some bad decisions recently," he said.
"He's upset just about everybody you could possibly upset…
"(Re-establishing the Coalition) is the most viable way forward for the National Party, for the Liberal Party and for wider conservative politics."
In a statement, Littleproud said he respected Boyce's right to voice his opinion, but defended his leadership.
"I stand by my record as leader of the Nationals and what our partyroom has achieved, through important policy work and standing up for regional, rural and remote Australia," he said.
The Nationals held all of its House of Representatives seats at the last election.
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