Nationals MPs have been taunted as they were punted from parliament’s front bench when politicians took their seats in Canberra for the first time since the Coalition’s messy divorce.

Nationals leader David Littleproud and his deputy Kevin Hogan, who used to sit alongside Opposition Leader Sussan Ley and her shadow ministers, were banished to the row behind the front bench.

Other Nationals MPs have been pushed further towards the back of the chamber.

The Liberals are now considered the official opposition as the largest political party after Labor.

The Liberals want to keep renegade Nationals senators benched for six months as part of a proposal to restore the estranged Coalition.

But the regional party is holding out for the former frontbenchers to be reinstated after the spectacular split triggered by division over Labor’s hate speech laws.

Liberal leader Sussan Ley told her party room on Tuesday she had offered Littleproud a deal to reunify the Coalition if three former shadow cabinet members remained benched for six months after crossing the floor last month.

She gave the Nationals an ultimatum to rejoin the Coalition before Monday, the start of the second sitting week of the fortnight. After that, Liberals who appointed temporarily to shadow cabinet portfolios to replace their former colleagues will be given permanent positions.

The sticking point remains the reinstatement of Nationals senators Ross Cadell, Bridget McKenzie and Susan McDonald after they crossed the floor to vote against the laws in breach of shadow cabinet solidarity.

Littleproud has drawn a red line on the issue.

The Nationals also want to relax Coalition rules so their frontbench MPs can vote separately from the Liberals again in the future.

But the Liberals are reluctant to water down solidarity restrictions, with Ley telling her party room the principle would be reaffirmed as part of any reunion deal.

Leader of the House Tony Burke taunted the former Coalition parties for their dysfunction on Tuesday, while announcing a number of changes to parliamentary procedure.

“We still have the traditional crossbench over in the corner there,” he told parliament.

“But we now have the cross, the very cross and the apoplectic, all in front of us here.”

Education Minister Jason Clare joked that the Coalition made the Beckhams “look like a happy family”, in reference to the public feud between Sir David and wife Victoria and their eldest son, Brooklyn Peltz Beckham.

Littleproud has blamed Ley for the break-up because she accepted the trio’s resignations from the front bench.

He preached exceptional circumstances due to the rushed nature of the hate speech laws and the legislation being amended from what was agreed to in the shadow cabinet meeting.

The two party leaders met on Monday night as pressure mounted within the Nationals to end the messy Coalition split. But Littleproud would not buy into the proposed deadline.

Pressed on the issue on Tuesday morning, ahead of the Nationals’ meeting, Littleproud said work had started to bring the Coalition back together but he would not give a timeline.

“My room will make a determination, as we did a couple of weeks ago,” he said outside a church service to mark the official start of the parliamentary year.

“There’s no unilateral decisions.”

Ley said the discussions were constructive.

“At this point, the door is open; I have maintained that the door stays open,” she said.

Scott Buchholz, a Liberal National Party MP from Queensland, appeared less optimistic about the chances of unity between the former political allies.

He joked it would take an act of providence for the estranged political parties to reunite as allied and rival MPs met for the religious service.

“That’s where we need divine intervention,” he said.

Multiple members of the Nationals have publicly and privately called for the Coalition to get back together to make it a more effective political force.

The Liberals and Nationals will sit separately in the first question time since the political divorce.

-with AAP