Nationals leader David Littleproud has defended his record as he faces a challenge for his position when parliament resumes next week.
Littleproud has backed the National Party's opposition to federal hate speech laws, which resulted in the fracturing of the Coalition, arguing they were a "slippery slope of stopping freedom of speech".
Backbench MP Colin Boyce, who represents the Queensland electorate of Flynn, revealed on Wednesday that he will launch a spill motion against Littleproud at a party room meeting on Monday.
He said the Coalition needed to reunite, noting that Opposition leader Sussan Ley had left the "door open" to that outcome.
"The National Party is committing political suicide by removing itself from the Coalition," he told Sky News on Wednesday.
"The reality is, [if] they follow the course they're on now, we are going over the political cliff."
The Coalition broke up for the second time in nine months last week, after the Nationals splintered off to vote against hate speech reforms in the wake of the Bondi attack that killed 15 people.
Ley struck a deal with Labor to pass the laws, claiming her amendments, which included tightening the definition of a hate preacher and setting up stricter parliamentary oversight, had "fixed" the legislation.
However, when the laws went to a vote, three National shadow cabinet members defied cabinet solidarity to vote against the legislation in the Senate, after their colleagues abstained in the lower house.
Littleproud, who has stood by the move, has previously said "no-one in [the Nationals] ministry could work in a Sussan Ley ministry", casting doubt over how the Coalition will reunite under him as leader.
"I stand by my record as leader of The Nationals and what our party room has achieved, through important policy work and standing up for regional, rural and remote Australia," Littleproud said in a brief statement after Boyce's announcement.
On Tuesday, Liberal frontbencher Tim Wilson said that, while National Party leadership decisions were up to the Nationals, "it's very hard to see" the Coalition reform under Littleproud.
It comes amid feverish speculation about Ley's future as Opposition leader, with questions about who could take the top job and reunite the Coalition amid the rapid rise in support for One Nation.
— With additional reporting from the Australian Associated Press.
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