Australia’s opposition coalition reunites after split over hate laws
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Mourners gathering at a tribute at the Bondi Pavilion on Dec 16, 2025, in memory of the victims of a shooting at Bondi Beach in Sydney.
PHOTO: AFP
SYDNEY – Australia’s conservative opposition coalition reunited on Feb 8 after junior partner National Party severed ties in January with the Liberal Party over its decision to back government hate speech laws drafted in the wake of the Bondi Beach massacre.
“The coalition is back together and looking to the future, not to the past,” Liberal Party leader Sussan Ley said alongside National Party leader David Littleproud in a media conference televised from Canberra.
The coalition split, the second in less than a year, was triggered after Australia’s Parliament passed the centre-left Labor government’s anti-hate laws in the wake of the mass shooting that killed 15 in December. The laws were backed by the Liberal Party but opposed by some National Party senators.
“It has been disappointing. We’ve got to where we are, but it was over a substantive issue,” Mr Littleproud said.
Under the longstanding partnership, the Nationals broadly represent the interests of rural communities, and the Liberals city seats.
The coalition has come under recent pressure from populist Senator Pauline Hanson’s anti-immigration One Nation party, which has surged in polling, while the Liberal Party lost a swathe of seats at the 2025 federal election, which was won by Labor in a landslide. REUTERS
