Coalition is back together but will Ley and Littleproud’s partnership last?

Sussan Ley and David Littleproud have done what their party elders have been calling for and reunited the Coalition.

The rules are better spelled out, the rogue frontbenchers get a six-week mini purgatory, and there’s a bit more paperwork.

The leaders were all smiles for the cameras on Sunday – after 17 days of public sniping by their teams – and they even wore matching outfits, such is their level of synchronicity now.

“The Coalition is the most enduring and successful partnership in Australia’s political history,” Ms Ley declared.

But getting the band back together won’t make everyone in the Liberals’ and Nationals’ parliamentary crews happy.

Despite the long history of electoral success as a team, some within the Liberals in particular through maybe it was worth taking a break from their junior Coalition partner so each could sort out their wildy differing electoral woes.

Ms Ley and Mr Littleproud both insisted on Sunday they could chart a path back to government.

On simple mathematics, that pathway must run through Australia’s cities.

But the Nationals apparently steering Coalition policies on issues such as the Voice, nuclear power and dumping net zero does little to endear the joint proposition to these voters.

And with the Nats fearful about the rise of One Nation in their patches, the suggestion that compromises have to be made on both ends of the policy spectrum to help out the Liberals could be met with short shrift.

A 12 or 18-month separation could have given each side time to work this out before coming together for the election, similar to the model followed in WA.

Or it could have spelled the doom of one or both parties.

Of the three jurisdictions where the Coalition is in power currently, the parties are merged into a single entity in two (Queensland’s LNP and the NT’s Country LIberal Party), while in the third, Tasmania, the Nationals are effectively non-existent.

It also remains to be seen whether Ms Ley and Mr Littleproud truly trust each other – and whether Australians can trust them not to bust up again.

“Yes, 100 per cent I trust David,” Ms Ley said at their joint press conference.

“I wouldn’t be standing here today if I didn’t trust Sussan Ley and I didn’t trust the Liberal Party,” was Mr Littleproud’s reply.

They guaranteed there wouldn’t be further fractures under their leadership.

But each skated over questions about bad blood between them, although Mr Littleproud conceded there had been “terse conversations” over the past fortnight.

And the Nationals leader sought to pin the blame on Anthony Albanese for the argument about whether shadow cabinet or party room solidarity has primacy that underpinned the bust-up, rather than take responsibility for his actions.

Despite the misgivings, bringing the Nationals back from the brink is yet another instance of Ms Ley winning her way in broader party matters.

Whether she can continue to win in the partyroom, if Angus Taylor finds a new excuse to take on her leadership, is an open question.