Three senior Nationals senators – Bridget McKenzie, Susan McDonald, and Ross Cadell – have resigned from the Shadow Cabinet.
It comes after they voted against Labor’s hate speech bill on Tuesday night, despite a Coalition commitment to endorse it.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said she had “made it clear” to Nationals leader David Littleproud “that members of the Shadow Cabinet could not vote against the Shadow Cabinet position”.
Here’s what you need to know.
Context
The Government introduced new hate speech legislation this week in response to the Bondi terrorist attack in December.
On Sunday, the Coalition Shadow Cabinet agreed to support the bill after negotiating specific amendments with the Government.
Ley said these changes were aimed at ensuring the bill could more effectively target Islamist extremists for deportation and disband neo-Nazi groups.
Cabinets
When a party forms government, some of its MPs and Senators become Cabinet Ministers — a team of advisers to the Prime Minister, responsible for policy areas called portfolios.
The party in Opposition forms a Shadow Cabinet, who comment on Government proposals and suggest alternatives.
The Coalition – primarily made up of the Liberals and Nationals – is currently in Opposition.
Under their Coalition agreement, Shadow Cabinet members must vote based on the positions they agree to as a party.
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Voting
Nationals leader David Littleproud abstained from voting in the House of Representatives, as did several other Coalition MPs. Labor has a majority in the lower house, so did not need their support there.
Once the bill reached the Senate on Tuesday night, Nationals Senators raised more amendments, such as giving groups seven days to “disavow violence and extremism” before being listed.
After these amendments failed, McKenzie, McDonald, and Cadell voted against the bill, alongside Nationals backbencher Matt Canavan.
Response
Following the vote, all three Senators offered their resignations to Ley, which she accepted.
In a statement on Wednesday, Ley said: “Shadow Cabinet solidarity is not optional. It is the foundation of serious opposition and credible government.”
McKenzie, the Nationals’ leader in the Senate, defended her actions, saying she and her colleagues “very clear on the consequences of [their] decision to oppose Labor’s hate speech laws if our amendments were not passed.”
McDonald (who is in Queensland’s combined Liberal National Party, and chooses to sit with the Nationals) said she remains committed to “serving and delivering” for Queenslanders.
Cadell has yet to comment publicly.
Littleproud said the decision to vote against the bill “does not reflect on [the Nationals’] relationship within the Coalition”.
Ley has asked the three Senators to continue serving the Coalition outside the Shadow Cabinet and requested Littleproud nominate three replacements.
