Negotiations late on Monday night between Nationals leader Dugald Saunders,Perrottet and Liberal leader Mark Speakman secured the outcome ahead of a pivotal Liberal party room meeting on Tuesday morning.
NSW Opposition Leader Mark Speakman says his leadership is safe.Kate Geraghty
In a joint statement,Speakman and Saunders said they had “reaffirmed our commitment” to the Coalition partnership,saying Fang had been removed from his shadow assistant minister roles after a since-deleted Facebook post accusing the Liberal leader of “slinking” into Wagga Wagga and “pretending” the party cared about the Riverina.
Fang’s post also said the snub was indicative of why Speakman’s leadership was under threat.
At a press conference after the party room,Speakman said Fang’s Facebook post had been unacceptable and denied his leadership had been weakened by the saga despite the intervention of colleagues including the former premier.
“I gave the National Party leader every opportunity to deal with Mr Fang. When those repeated opportunities weren’t taken up,I elected to exercise my prerogative as opposition leader and sack Mr Fang himself,” he said. “It is bleedingly obvious this was unacceptable behaviour.”
Wes Fang has been ousted from shadow cabinet and former premier Dominic Perrottet helped broker the truce.Peter Rae and Supplied
Speakman said the arrangement reached had been made between Saunders and himself,but added a number of senior Liberals had made phone calls to members of the Nationals.
“There were direct negotiations between Mr Saunders and me that have resolved the matter.”
A senior Liberal said the meeting also canvassed recent poll results,which show the Coalition would be in a strong position to reclaim government if an election was held now.
The most recent Resolve Political Monitor results for theHerald showed that the Coalition was ahead of Labor on the primary vote (35 per cent to the ALP’s 32 per cent).
“We need to stay unified to be within striking distance of a 2027 win,” said the MP,who spoke anonymously due to party rules.
The division over Fang’s attack on Speakman had threatened to split the Coalition after 97 years when Saunders rejected the opposition leader’s authority to sack the MP.
The eleventh-hour deal was brokered late on Monday night when Saunders accepted Fang’s assistant shadow ministry positions had been terminated,after a flurry of calls between senior MPs in both parties.
Senior Liberal MPs had called for calm on Monday,warning a split would only serve the Minns Labor government.
One senior source said the prospect of a Coalition split had been “very serious” and a “genuine consideration” for Liberal MPs as the impasse stretched on without resolve.
“I think the Coalition should stay together. Everything should be seen through the prism of ‘how does this help us win the next election?’,and that[splitting] would not help us win,” another MP told this masthead on Monday.
Fang will continue in his Nationals-appointed position as deputy whip in the Legislative Council.
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