A senior Victorian National Party member is pushing for his party to re-evaluate the Coalition agreement following a successful election for the Nationals and a Labor Party win.
The National Party has gained popularity this state election, securing nine seats across the state so far — a 50 per cent increase from four years ago.
The Nationals have secured three out of four Gippsland seats, excluding the Narracan district, which had its lower house election postponed following the death of Nationals party candidate Shaun Gilchrist.
Member for Gippsland South Danny O'Brien told ABC radio the Nationals had not considered breaking up the Coalition but the discussion should be on the table.
"We need to think about what the best is, not just for us, but for the Liberal Party," he said.
"[The Liberals] are going to go through a fair bit of soul searching in coming days and weeks and months and we have performed very well."
The Victorian Liberal Party lost to Labor for the third consecutive election, leaving National Party members disappointed.
"Ultimately we want to be in government and being able to deliver from the government benches for the people of rural and regional Victoria," Mr O'Brien said.
"We're not going to be for the next four years, it's going to be tough, even for the next election too, so we need to be considering what the best options are for us."
He said if the Nationals were to decide to separate themselves from the Liberals, the matter would be dealt with by the state party and state council.
Premature comment
Re-elected Nationals Member for Gippsland East Tim Bull said it was too early to discuss the party structure, but discussions might begin in a couple of weeks.
"I think we need to let the dust settle and just see how many seats they've won, who's their leader and how many seats we've won," he said.
"All those considerations would come before making a determination on the Coalition agreement."
But Nationals leader Peter Walsh condemned Mr O'Brien's comments on the party's structure.
"Danny is totally outside his remit in saying that because it's not a discussion that's been had in the party room," he said.
"When we had that discussion in the party room a number of years ago there was overwhelming support for staying in Coalition.
"He is way out of bounds by saying something at this stage without the party room talking about it."
