In Australia, the collapse of the conservative coalition between the Liberal Party and National Party will fracture opposition to the ruling Labor Party's agenda, granting the government freer rein to implement energy transition, industrial investment and fiscal reform policies. On May 20, Australia's main opposition group, the center-right Liberal-National Coalition (LNC), formally split amid deepening urban-rural divides over energy and economic direction, marking the end of one of the longest-standing political partnerships in the country's history. The collapse came after negotiations on a renewed coalition agreement broke down over major policy divisions, especially around energy, with the National Party demanding an aggressive push for nuclear power and fossil fuel development, while the Liberal Party leaned toward a more moderate, suburban-friendly climate and emissions policy. Other points of contention included rural subsidies, carbon market regulation, and transmission line infrastructure for renewables, all of which revealed a deepening philosophical divergence between the...
