Spectre of irrelevance hangs over John Pesutto as backflip on treaty blind-sides Victorian Coalition MPs

‘No one has any idea why we don’t support treaty,’ Victorian Coalition MP says of John Pesutto’s sudden announcement. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAP

For half an hour on Monday, Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, tied himself in knots attempting to explain why the Coalition was walking back its support for a state treaty with First Nations people.

With a pained expression on his face, Pesutto began the press conference with hand-wringing about the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Victorians.