David Littleproud said he was proud of his record as leader, including pushing for the Coalition to dump net zero, but said mistakes had been made more broadly.
“The mistake after the election was to wipe all our policies, because all we did was leave a vacuum for someone else to walk into,” Littleproud said.
“But I stood and fought for those four policies that meant so much to our party room, that’s been fought for so many years,” referring to the demands he made of former opposition leader Sussan Ley that he split the Coalition over.
“I wouldn’t let it go, and then I wasn’t going to stand by when my mates got punted for not doing anything wrong,” he added of when the Coalition split for the second time earlier this year.
“You might disagree with me on that, but where I come from, if one of your mob gets knocked over, and it’s not for the right reason, you come swinging back. That’s how we operate. The culture of the National Party has always been like that, so I’m proud of that.”
Asked why he wanted to resign now, after he had ostensibly succeeded in getting an opposition leader he could work better with in Angus Taylor, Littleproud repeated: “I’m buggered, mate”.
