Peace within the ranks of the New South Wales Coalition has lasted only a few hours after the partnership was reaffirmed, with Nationals MP Wes Fang launching another tirade against the state Liberal leader, Mark Speakman.
Speakman had issued a joint statement on Tuesday morning with the NSW Nationals leader, Dugald Saunders, saying they had “reaffirmed” the Coalition partnership after crisis talks sparked by last week’s public sniping.
The two leaders said Fang, a Wagga Wagga-based upper house MP, had been stripped of his shadow assistant ministry portfolios and they remained “focused on working together to hold the Minns Labor government to account”.
The Coalition had been at risk of collapse after Speakman publicly sacked Fang from the shadow ministry on Friday. The Nationals member had earlier criticised Speakman on social media for failing to reveal his Wagga trip to visit independent MP Joe McGirr.
Saunders then publicly rebuffed Speakman, issuing a media release that said the Liberal leader did not have the authority to sack a Nationals MP from the shadow ministry.
After reaching the agreement with the Nationals, Speakman on Tuesday told journalists that the Coalition was “united in taking the battle to Labor” and that it wasn’t unusual he hadn’t told Fang he would be in Wagga.
“He happens to be a National MP in the upper house. He claims to live there,” Speakman said. “There’s no disrespect on my part not to tell him.”
Asked about Speakman’s comment that he “claims to live” in Wagga, Fang said the opposition leader was “going to end up with egg on his face”.
Fang said he was born and raised in Wagga and moved back there after attending university in Sydney and beginning his career as a pilot in the army and for Child Flight.
“I moved back to Wagga in 2008, where I live to this day. My kids were born in Wagga. I’m not sure I can get much more Wagga,” Fang said on Tuesday.
“Maybe his ‘claimed’ comment only goes to show how out of touch Speakman is.”
Fang has declared to parliament his interests in two properties. The register of members’ interests lists a property in Wagga as his principal place of residence and a property in Sydney’s Drummoyne.
The Nationals MP told Guardian Australia he bought the Drummoyne property in 2005 and stayed there when parliament was sitting – but spent the majority of his time in Wagga.
Last week, Fang accused Speakman of “slinking” into Wagga and “pretending like the Libs actually care about the Riverina”.
“Did he ask the ‘Coalition’ member who lives in Wagga Wagga and is apparently part of his ‘team’ to have an in-depth discussion of Wagga Wagga issues?” Fang wrote.
“No. In fact, he didn’t even have the courtesy to let me know he was coming.”
The ensuing rift was seen as the greatest threat to the Coalition since then deputy premier John Barilaro threatened to walk away from the agreement over the koala wars in 2020.
Speakman on Tuesday said Fang’s behaviour was “unacceptable”.
