Conaghan resigns as shadow minister over hate speech bill schism

Opposition leader Sussan Ley “strongly urged” the Nationals against leaving the Coalition after 11 of its members resigned from the shadow ministry, including Pat Conaghan.

On Wednesday morning, National Party leader David Littleproud offering blanket resignations for all shadow ministerial positions held by National Party members.

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In a statement, Conaghan announced that he had subsequently sent his resignation from the position of shadow assistant treasurer and shadow minister for financial services to Ley.

“Party convention dictates that Shadow Ministers must align in solidarity with the Leader of the Opposition on all legislation to pass the floor,” he said.

“Unfortunately, we could not come to an agreement in full with our Liberal Party colleagues regarding the Combatting Antisemitism, Hate and Extremism (Criminal and Migration Laws) Bill 2026 in the Senate.

“While I and my National Party colleagues fully support the intent of the legislation, we do not support the rushed iteration that has been presented.”

The cracks in the Coalition, which had been bubbling since the disastrous results of the May federal election, have come to a head over the hate speech bill that passed both houses of Parliament on Tuesday night.

“It should be noted that the Coalition has secured significant improvements to the legislation prior to it passing the House, but The Nationals’ Party Room concluded that more time is required to examine and test the Bill,” Conaghan said.

“The Nationals’ Party Room made the decision as a collective to abstain in the House and oppose the Bill in the Senate, tendering amendments agreed by the Party that would provide better free speech protections for everyday Australians at that time.

“The legislation needs and deserves to have amendments heard and tested. These laws are too important to get wrong. They are too important not to consider the unintended consequences fully.”

The amendments that National Party senators moved were voted down and they subsequently crossed the floor to vote against the bill, despite the Liberal senators supporting the measures.

“As National Party Members, we vote in the best interests of all Australians and in particular Regional Australians. We vote in a manner that aligns with our Party’s core values. Values that our electorates and our constituents expect us to uphold. That is why we are voted into Parliament to represent them. Nothing more and nothing less,” Conaghan added.

“Our priority is keeping Australians safe and protecting our cherished freedoms. The freedoms that have been hard fought and hard won. Equally, our priority is keeping Australians safe by identifying the core of the problem, which in the case of the Bondi shootings was Islamic extremism.”

While Ley had previously accepted the resignations of Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald, in a statement on Wednesday evening Ley said she has rejected the additional resignations.

“I have received additional offers of resignation from National Party shadow ministers, which I and my Liberal leadership group have determined are unnecessary,” she said.

“I note that in David’s letter, he has not indicated that the Nationals are leaving the Coalition.

“No permanent changes will be made to the shadow ministry at this time, giving the National Party time to reconsider these offers of resignation.”

On Thursday morning, however, Littleproud confirmed that the Nationals would no longer be part of the Coalition, laying the blame wholly on Ley and leaving the door open to reunify if there was a change of leadership.

“We’re at a juncture where no one in our ministry could work in a Sussan Ley ministry, and my party room made that clear,” he said.

“That’s why the Coalition was made untenable because of the decision to sack our people.”