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As it happened: John Barilaro, Nationals back down from crossbench threat against Berejiklian government over state's koala planning

Updated September 11, 2020 — 2:18pm,first published September 11, 2020 — 7:01am

Summary

Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro has informed the Premier he will not lead his MPs to the crossbench, leaving his leadership of the party in doubt. He then returned to consult with his MPs.
The Nationals met at 8am to determine if they would move to the crossbench following a dispute with the Liberals over a koala protection policy passed in December.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian gave Mr Barilaro until 9am to give his party's decision, saying Nationals could be ministers in cabinet or sit on the crossbench but "they cannot do both".
An attempt at crisis talks ended without resolution on Thursday night, with some Nationals MPs expressing concern about opposing the policy.
Speaking this morning, Labor leader Jodi McKay said she would be moving a vote of no-confidence in the government at Parliament next week.

2.18pm on Sep 11, 2020

That's all, folks

We are wrapping up our live blog coverage of this morning's state politics drama. Here's a brief summary of the various – largely inconsequential – developments:

The state Nationals have decided against moving en masse to the crossbench, retaining their ministries and instead preparing to discuss their proposed changes to a controversial koala planning policy at a yet to be scheduled cabinet meeting.
Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro described this as "a victory" in an appearance on 2GB, although Premier Gladys Berejiklian had already agreed to hear their proposed changes in cabinet.
That said, one Nationals MP is expected to join the crossbench: Clarence MP Chris Gulaptis, the first to make the threat earlier this week. That leaves the government with just a one-seat majority.
The Premier, Deputy Premier and Treasurer Dominic Perrottet have all indicated a willingness to continue to work together despite this morning's events.
Government sources say the saga places the future of Mr Barilaro's leadership in doubt.

You can read the full rundown of today's events in state political editor Alexandra Smith's story here.

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2.16pm on Sep 11, 2020

Barilaro offered to resign on Thursday, says party is united

By Lucy Cormack

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro says he told his party room during crisis talks on Thursday night that he would resign, but that he has never seen it so united.

"I said to the party, 'if you think I am not best serving this party room as the leader'. [But] I've never seen a party room so united, unanimously backing me. That gave me the strength to get in there and negotiate this morning."

NSW Deputy Premier John Barliaro on Friday.Kate Geraghty

He said he was proud of the approach he and his party took over the past 48 hours, because it put the koala planning policy on the agenda.

"I'm proud of the Nats. We learnt something from greyhounds, we learnt something from local government mergers. Our region can stake so much but we tipped them over the edge with the Koala SEPP."

"At the start of the week [Premier Gladys Berejiklian] mentioned this would be looked upon in October; it wasn't an urgent issue for the government. Well, guess what? Today it is an urgent issue."

Mr Barilaro said he had conceded "in some part", but would not go back on the commitment he made on Friday morning to stick to the Coalition agreement and cabinet protocols going forward.

"The Coalition is strong, the Coalition will continue.

"This is built off a partnership with the Premier that she and I have had over 3½ years."

He added that he was unfazed that Port Macquarie MP Leslie Williams had been the sole member not to support the move to the crossbench, because the party was a "mixed church" of independents brought together by geography.

"Different ideologies; left, right, middle; saltwater, freshwater; RM Williams Nats and the Versace Nats," he said.

12.56pm on Sep 11, 2020

Meeting between Premier and Deputy was 'constructive': Perrottet

NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet has said this morning's meeting between Deputy Premier John Barilaro and Premier Gladys Berejiklian was "constructive", with the Deputy Premier making a commitment to deal with further similar disputes through the cabinet process.

"It's a big win that the Coalition is back together and obviously there's been challenges these 24 hours but what's important is that the government's back to work where it should be – and that's focusing on the pandemic," he told reporters.

Dominic Perrottet speaks to reporters on Friday.Nick Moir

The Treasurer said "nothing has changed" regarding the future of the koala planning policy that sparked the dispute – the Nationals' concerns will still be raised at a future cabinet meeting, as was said by the Premier earlier this week.

"This is an issue that's obviously got some strong views on either side," he said.

Asked if he agreed with Mr Barilaro's statement that this morning was "a victory", Mr Perrottet said he thought it was "a victory for the government and a victory for NSW" that there was a united position across the government.

"I can definitely continue to work with John Barilaro and with all the members of the Nationals ... they are a strong part of this government and our healthy coalition can come with healthy tensions," he said.

12.18pm on Sep 11, 2020

'No good replacing him with someone worse': Joyce weighs in on Nats drama

By Tom Rabe

Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce believes NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro should remain NSW Nationals leader and warned the party doesn't have a better option.

Mr Joyce, the federal Nationals MP for New England, said he supported Mr Barilaro's bold approach to the Coalition dispute, and said he and Premier Gladys Berejiklian didn't have to like each other to run the state.

Federal Nationals MP Barnaby Joyce says John Barilaro should stay in his job.Alex Ellinghausen

"Politics is not about liking people, otherwise you'd stay at home and cuddle your kids," Mr Joyce told the Herald.

"There were a lot of times that [former prime minister Malcolm] Turnbull couldn't stand the sight of me but we still managed to get a lot done."

However, he added that Mr Barilaro should not have allowed the spat to play out so publicly.

"I probably wouldn't have telegraphed my punches so much," Mr Joyce said.

"They've got to think you're crazy enough that you'll actually pull the pin and you've got to be determined enough to actually do it and no one should know about it until it actually happens."

Even though the names of Paul Toole and Adam Marshall have been circulated as favourites to replace Mr Barilaro, Mr Joyce doesn't believe there's anyone within the party room who could do a better job.

"It's no good replacing him with someone that's worse."

12.06pm on Sep 11, 2020

A victory? Berejiklian had always planned on cabinet discussion

By Alexandra Smith and Lucy Cormack

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has claimed a win in the Coalition crisis, saying he had a commitment that the divisive koala planning policy would go to cabinet.

But Premier Gladys Berejiklian had already agreed to that, and said on September 8 that the "issue would be considered by cabinet in due course".

In fact, on Tuesday the Premier had this to say on the issue: "We have scheduled cabinet meetings and this will be dealt with at one of those scheduled cabinet meetings and I’m looking forward to the process."

Meanwhile, the Premier released a short statement just before noon:

"Following a meeting this morning between the Premier and Deputy Premier, the NSW Liberal & Nationals coalition remains in place.

"This includes a commitment to supporting cabinet conventions and processes.

"The matter will be dealt with at an upcoming cabinet meeting."

11.59am on Sep 11, 2020

Barilaro calls this morning 'a victory'

NSW Deputy Premier John Barilaro has claimed "a victory" from this morning's chaos, with Premier Gladys Berejiklian confirming she would hear the koala planning policy that sparked a potential coalition split this week in cabinet.

"We have met and we have agreed that the Coalition will stay intact – it was never our intention to bring down the Coalition or the government because we've been a bloody good government," he told Ray Hadley on 2GB this morning.

Mr Barilaro said the Nationals wanted an opportunity for their amendments to the policy to be heard in cabinet and the party would begin working on its submissions this afternoon.

"But the beauty here for us is that it's coming to cabinet and this is the first time for us that we have been assured of that," he said.

It should be noted that the Premier had already agreed to consider the issue in cabinet "in due course".

The Nationals leader said the issue was not necessarily scheduled for Parliament's sitting on October 6, expressing optimism that their submissions could be ready for the September 21 date and he would be "holding every minister to account" on their proposals.

He denied this morning's party room meeting – in which it was floated that the Nationals would leave cabinet to sit on the crossbench after the Premier told them they could not do both – was overblown.

"We were prepared to do what we said yesterday," he said.

11.45am on Sep 11, 2020

This isn't the first time Barilaro has floated leaving the Coalition

This morning is not the first time state Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro has attempted to break from the Coalition.

It is all quite the departure from back in August 2018, when Mr Barilaro told his party he would quit as leader if it insisted on running a NSW Nationals candidate in Wagga Wagga against a Liberal candidate, warning he would stand down if his pleas for Coalition unity were ignored.

Here's a list, from state politics reporter Lucy Cormack:

June 2019: Mr Barilaro said he was prepared to relinquish the title of Deputy Premier if it meant he could speak more freely and not be "subservient to the leader of another party".
August 2019: He circulated a note to party MPs suggesting it was time to “revisit our relationship with the Liberal Party”, again raising the possibility of giving up the mantle of Deputy Premier.
February 2020: Mr Barilaro said the Liberal-National Coalition had been “undermined” and was under threat, after Environment Minister Matt Kean launched a consultation period into noise and air pollution caused by freight trains in regional NSW.
September 2020: The Deputy Premier said the NSW Nationals could split from the Coalition over koala planning policy, with two of his ministers prepared to quit cabinet over the issue. But this morning it was revealed he had backed down from the threat.

11.27am on Sep 11, 2020

Premier arrives at coronavirus response HQ

After leaving her meeting with Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Premier Gladys Berejiklian drove across the city to the state's coronavirus response centre – the RFS headquarters – at Sydney Olympic Park.

We are yet to receive a statement from the Premier or Mr Barilaro, who was on a second Zoom call with his Nationals colleagues when we last received an update.

11.23am on Sep 11, 2020

Labor calls for 'lap dog' Barilaro's resignation, will move vote of no-confidence

By Lucy Cormack

NSW Opposition Leader Jodi McKay will move a vote of no-confidence in the government when Parliament reconvenes next week, and has called on Deputy Premier John Barilaro to resign.

"This guy, the Deputy Premier, is not a cattle dog. He is a lap dog and he has proven that this morning with his capitulation to the Premier," Ms McKay told reporters this morning.

The Labor leader said she expected to lose the motion, but believed NSW no longer had a functional government.

Ms McKay fronted cameras alongside fellow MPs Adam Searle and Ryan Park on Friday morning, saying she believed Mr Barilaro’s position as Deputy Premier was now untenable and indicated a "major rift" in the Coalition.

"You can’t threaten the government in the way he did and get away with it," she said, describing his backdown as a "humiliating defeat".

"This also lands at the feet of the Premier. The Deputy Premier has made numerous threats to do this. The Premier should have pulled him into line; she should have stopped this."

Ms McKay said she did not believe that Premier Gladys Berejiklian deserved to have this occur in her government, but that she should have addressed the issue earlier.

She added that the move demonstrated Mr Barilaro did not understand parliamentary process.

"For him to think he could sit on the crossbench and still be a part of the Coalition shows he does not understand government."

10.38am on Sep 11, 2020

Gladys has left the building

Premier Gladys Berejiklian smiled and waved to photographers as she left the government's offices a few minutes ago after her chat with Nationals leader and Deputy Premier John Barilaro.

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian leaves the government's offices at Martin Place after John Barilaro backed down on the Nationals' threat to move to the crossbench.Nick Moir