Nationals leader David Littleproud will face a challenge for his position following the party’s divorce from the Liberals.
Backbench MP Colin Boyce, who represents the Queensland electorate of Flynn, said he would launch a spill motion against Mr Littleproud in the coming week.
The move, announced on Wednesday, followed the Nationals walking away from their coalition partnership with the Liberals over hate-speech laws.
Mr Boyce will run for the party leadership at a meeting due to take place on Monday.
He said the coalition needed to reunite if the party was to have any chance electorally.
“We do have to get this coalition back together again. It’s a bit like trying to weld square pipe to round pipe,” he told Sky News in announcing the spill motion.
“The reality is, they follow the course they’re on now we are going over the political cliff.
“David has made some bad decisions recently. He’s upset just about everybody you can possibly upset.”
Earlier on Wednesday, before the spill was announced, Mr Littleproud said a split with the Liberals was not what the party wanted.
“We didn’t leave in anger, we left in disappointment,” he told Sky News.
“I can reconcile in my head every day that we’ve made our decision on principle, and I’m proud of our room and how we got to that decision, but we’re pragmatic and calm about what we can do moving forward.”
Mr Boyce said a reunion with the Liberals was needed to avoid a political wipe out.
“The National Party is committing political suicide by removing itself from the coalition. The National Party now faces a right-flank onslaught from One Nation,” he said.
“There is a huge surge up here (for One Nation). There’s lots of people say to me, you know, ‘you should join One Nation’ and so forth.”
Mr Littleproud said: “I stand by my record as leader of The Nationals and what our party room has achieved, through important policy work and standing up for regional, rural and remote Australia.”
Deputy Nationals leader Kevin Hogan stood by Mr Littleproud.
“This is a process MPs can do but David will have the overwhelming support of the room as he always does with these ballots,” Mr Hogan said.
Former Nationals leader turned backbencher Michael McCormack, who has been critical of Mr Littleproud at times, said the party needed to return to focusing on everyday Australians and the struggles they faced.
“It is what it is,” he said of the spill.
“People crave stability in politics and spills – sometimes they’re necessary, I’m not going to say if I support it or not. But I support the leader, the party supports the leader.
“But I like Col, his heart’s in the right place.”
Nationals senator Matt Canavan, who previously challenged Mr Littleproud for the leadership as he pushed for the party to axe its support for net zero emissions, also saw no reason to make a change.
Other Nationals have privately dismissed the move, reiterating Mr Boyce didn’t have the support needed to claim the leadership.
There appeared to be little co-ordination of any challenge after National MPs were caught off guard by the announcement.
But Mr Littleproud has said there would be no reunion under the leadership of Ms Ley, angering Liberal MPs who view it as the junior coalition partner overstepping the line by meddling in their internal party politics.
Mr Boyce also raised concerns about One Nation soaring in recent polls after former deputy prime minister and Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce’s defection to the far-right, anti-immigration party at the end of 2025.
The most recent Newspoll showed One Nation with a 22 per cent primary vote, compared to the former coalition at 21 per cent.
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