As Victorian Liberal MPs begin – once again – to plot a challenge against their leader, John Pesutto’s message was clear: bring it on.
“If someone wants to bring a motion at any point, whether it’s next Tuesday or whenever, let them bring it,” the opposition leader told reporters on Monday.
“Let’s just deal with it calmly and maturely.”
It’s a big ask, given that if a motion to spill the leadership of the Victorian Liberal party goes ahead next week, it will be the fourth in three-and-a-half years. And, unlike previous occasions, there remains no clear successor.
The first spill, in March 2021, was a failed attempt by Brad Battin to topple the then leader, Michael O’Brien. Just six months later, Matthew Guy reclaimed the state Liberal leadership, which he had resigned after a landslide election loss to the incumbent Andrews government in 2018. Guy’s second stint as opposition leader ended after the Victorian Liberal party’s disastrous performance at the 2022 election, where its primary vote fell below 30% for the first time since the 1950s.
Pesutto, who reclaimed his seat of Hawthorn in the same election after overcoming both Labor and a teal independent, secured the leadership, beating out Battin, the MP for Berwick, by a single vote.
He vowed at the time to unite the bitterly divided party and develop policies with broad appeal.
But this work has largely been overshadowed by his decision – just three months into his leadership – to move to expel Moira Deeming from the party room in March 2023, after she attended a rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Perhaps the only thing MPs can agree on is that the last three weeks, which Pesutto has spent in court defending himself in a defamation trial launched by Deeming, have done irreparable harm.
For four days, Pesutto was cross-examined by Deeming’s barrister. His deputy, David Southwick, and the party’s upper house leader, Georgie Crozier, also took the stand, while Liberal MPs Renee Heath, Richard Riordan, and Kim Wells testified on behalf of Deeming.
Text messages, emails and private conversations were aired publicly. Secret recordings were also unearthed, including one made by Southwick, which he didn’t tell anyone – including Pesutto – about for months and could put his deputy leadership in jeopardy.
The evidence may not have captured the attention of many Victorian voters but it has done enough to anger MPs from both the conservative and moderate factions of the party.
Pesutto, for his part, has repeatedly said he exhausted every effort to settle.
Since March, when there were also rumblings of a leadership challenge, Liberal MPs have said support is largely split between Battin and Nepean MP, Sam Groth, a former professional tennis player. Other names have been thrown into the mix recently, including Sandringham MP Brad Rowswell and Brighton MP James Newbury, as well as a possible return for Guy or O’Brien.
Guardian Australia understands Mornington MP Chris Crewther is also considering putting up his hand – but only if a spill is successful. The former federal MP has support from some in Pesutto’s camp who struggle to see how either Battin or Groth would be able to unite the party.
The confusion over the way forward could see Pesutto prevail. Despite the Deeming saga, his leadership has seen the Coalition’s polling improve and the Liberal primary vote is in its best shape since O’Brien was leader.
At Monday’s press conference, it was clear he wasn’t going to walk away without a fight.
While he conceded the defamation trial had been a “distraction”, Pesutto said as soon as his cross examination in federal court was over on Tuesday he “jumped straight back into my work”, including “four in-studio radio interviews”, “four or five press conferences” and “three major community forums”.
“I say to all of my colleagues right across the Liberal party … we are demonstrating that we are resonating with the Victorian people,” Pesutto said.
“We’ve got to continue to do that, because at the end of the day, none of this is really about us. It’s about the Victorian people.”
Whether his colleagues will listen remains to be seen.
