Australia's conservative opposition rocked by rare split

SYDNEY: The conservative coalition that has dominated modern Australian politics was abruptly terminated on Tuesday, as the two right-leaning parties traded blame over a crushing election defeat this month.

The centre-right Liberal Party and the rural-focused Nationals have jointly governed Australia under various guises for most of the last century.

But that alliance has broken down as the partners, now in opposition, come to grips with one of their worst-ever election results.

"We will not be re-entering into a coalition agreement with the Liberal Party after this election," Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters Tuesday.

"It has been broken before. This is a healthy part of our democracy, which we should be proud of."

Reasons included the failure to embrace nuclear energy and uncertainty over infrastructure funding for rural Australia, Littleproud said.

The Liberal Party, by far the biggest coalition member, lost more than a dozen seats in the May elections.

Voters abandoned a platform widely derided for so-called "Trump-lite" policies such as slashing the public service.

The two parties have traditionally been so intertwined, they are viewed as a singular force known simply as the "Coalition".

Although rare, the coalition has suffered brief splits in the past before resolving policy differences.

Left-leaning Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his governing Labor Party won a second term in a landslide victory on May 3.