Coalition reunites in a desperate bid to save Sussan Ley's leadership

The Socialist Bulletin Staff - 8/2/2026

THE Coalition has reunited for the second time in 9 months, following the second bruising Coalition split.

The Liberal and National Parties formally ended their months-long Coalition agreement last month, following disagreements over the Government’s hate speech legislation. This came amid a spike in support for the far-right One Nation party in rural Australia, which has encouraged the Nationals to creep ever further to the right.

Today’s shock reunification after the split of 22 January comes just days before Sussan Ley had threatened to unveil a ‘permanent’ Liberal-only frontbench, which likely would have cemented the split at least until her ousting as leader.

During the period of the Coalition split, most polling companies began polling the Liberals, Nationals, and Liberal National Party of Queensland separately, and this polling showed almost unanimously that both the Liberals and Nationals saw a significant drop in support immediately following the split, with a Newspoll polled from the days prior to the reunification finding just 15% of the electorate would vote for the Liberal Party, and just 3% would vote for the National Party. This was among the most sympathetic polls for the Liberals, with several polls during the split placing the Liberal Party extremely marginally above the Greens, almost making that party the fourth largest party, by polling percentage.

Also in the coming weeks, according to speculation within the Liberal Party, is a spill motion to install Angus Taylor, a National Right stalwart, as Liberal leader, and the reunification of the Coalition under Sussan Ley can be seen as an attempt to thwart this motion.

The Nationals had previously demanded the removal of Ms Ley as Liberal leader as a prerequisite for the reunification of the Coalition, but this appears to have fallen by the wayside as greater political issues on the Coalition's right flank affect the two parties.

While the newly reformed Coalition has attempted to depict itself as united, significant cracks remain in the parties' alliance, as very few of the previous sticking points that caused the split have been fixed.