Nationals leader Shane Love puts the pressure on with threats of pulling out of Alliance with Liberals

The WA Liberal and National parties are on the brink of civil war. Nationals leader Shane Love is threatening to pull out of the Alliance unless his conservative colleagues agree to a new Coalition agreement before the end of the year. Just three months after they formed an Alliance in Opposition, Mr Love is demanding the agreement be torn up in favour of forming a Coalition. Federally, the Liberals and Nationals — either in opposition or government — have a formal Coalition agreement whereby they have a united front on policies and decisions. But in WA, the Liberals and Nationals have what’s called an Alliance agreement whereby they work together but have different policies and pit candidates against each other in state elections. In an interview with The Sunday Times, Mr Love said he believed continuing as they are would ultimately consign the conservatives to a fourth term in the political abyss. “My opinion is that the current Alliance arrangement where we work together in Parliament and have no clear agreement around the conduct of the election has not been in the interests of either party,” Mr Love said. “We don’t want to enter a fourth term of Opposition. The best way to avoid that is to work closely in a Coalition. “My aim would be to see if we could get something done (agree on a Coalition agreement) towards the end of this year.” And he had a warning for the WA Liberals if they refuse to form a Coalition. “It’s either all in with an arrangement where we acknowledge we would be working together, sharing responsibilities — and that’s commonly called a Coalition — or we would be better off being fully independent of our Liberal colleagues,” Mr Love said. “To be anything in the middle has really not proven successful. “For me, we either have an agreement where we are definitely working together, or we be separate.” He added if there was “no progress” then things looked bleak for the partnership. “What I don’t want to see is us lingering in this (Alliance) arrangement until it’s too late and we (Nationals) can’t do our own thing if we have to,” Mr Love said. The last three State elections have been a disaster for the Opposition, which holds just 13 out of 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly. Under the Alliance, the Liberals and Nationals at the March election fought against each other to win seats — going to the polls with different policies and different strategies. On Saturday, Liberal and Oppositon Leader Basil Zempilas said the Alliance was working well and any Coalition deal could not be rushed. “I have always said, when we govern, we govern together and the public expect we will work collaboratively and co-operatively in Opposition. That’s exactly what we are doing,” Mr Zempilas said. “We want to take the best version of our partnership forward to the 2029 election and everything should be on the table — including a formal coalition. “But a coalition arrangement is not one that we can enter into overnight. It requires the input of both parliamentary teams and both lay parties and we will not rush through a process without the proper planning and consultation.”