Outspoken Nationals MP George Christensen has called for his party to push the reset button following Barnaby Joyce's resignation and end its 95-year coalition with an "aimless" Liberal Party.
Mr Christensen said the party must stand firm and harden its resolve "to put people first" while characterising the Turnbull government as on a "leftward drift" which was shackling the Nationals.
Taking to Facebook on Saturday, he argued the formal coalition agreement made it too restrictive for the Nats to properly represent the regions and would rather the Liberals form a minority government on their own.
"I want to see a National Party in coalition with regional Australia rather than wedded to a Liberal Party lurching away from the values we still hold," Mr Christensen posted.
"I need the support of the National Party, not the shackles of an aimless Liberal Party."
The outspoken Queensland MP said new leadership, following Mr Joyce's decision to stand down as party leader and deputy prime minister, was an opportunity to reinvigorate the Nationals.
NSW MPs David Gillespie and Michael McCormack have announced they will run for the leadership when the Nationals party room meets on Monday to elect a replacement for Mr Joyce.
"It must choose a leader who will deliver for regional Australia rather than serve at the table or the elitists' metropolitan feast in the hope of nicking a few scraps for the bush," Mr Christensen said.
A critic of Malcolm Turnbull's leadership, he felt the Liberals could form a minority government with the Nationals supporting motions of confidence and budget supply in return for guarantees for regional Australia.
"Our formal coalition with the Liberal Party has proved successful over the years but it has always been a compromise and, right now, that compromise is becoming increasingly difficult to accommodate," he said.
"I would rather a Liberal Prime Minister, Liberal Deputy Prime Minister and a full cabinet of Liberal ministers than have to compromise our values."
Australian Associated Press
