Major rift between Liberals, Nationals over royalties fund may hurt election prospects

They just spent the best part of a decade governing Western Australia together, but relations between the Liberal and National parties have spent years flicking between detente and open hostility.

Over the eight and a half years of the Barnett Government, the two conservative parties often publicly squabbled over core policies — even while three Nationals were key cabinet ministers.

And that was nothing compared to the bitter fights at election time, where the Liberals and Nationals would scrap fiercely for the same seats — a use of money and resources that has long frustrated figures from both parties, who feel efforts would be best used on the main goal of defeating Labor.

Now the two opposition parties are firmly at loggerheads…