In less than a week the Victorian Liberal leadership went from heralding the “new dawn” of a byelection win to facing an even newer dusk as it lost one of its most valued MPs.
Matt Bach, the upper house MP seen as a future leader by many of his colleagues, shocked the party room on Thursday night when he announced he was quitting politics to move to the UK with his young family at the end of the year.
Unlike the many Liberals before him who have left parliament for the greener, better-paying pastures of the corporate world, Bach is returning to his former profession, taking on a role as a teacher and assistant principal.
While Bach maintains he made the decision “purely in the interests of his family” and says he is confident the Coalition will win the 2026 state election without him, his departure is undeniably a huge blow to the Liberals.
As deputy leader in the upper house and a close ally to the opposition leader, John Pesutto, Bach was considered a moderate but known to have good relationship with key figures in the conservative camp.
In various portfolios during his three years in parliament, including child protection, youth justice and education, Bach put forward new policy ideas and worked to hold the government to account.
He appeared on the ABC, had a regular slot on community radio station Joy 94.9 and wrote opinion pieces for Guardian Australia.
He is a supporter of Liberal Pride and during the controversy involving Moira Deeming he wore the group’s badge to media appearances.
His two daughters would also occasionally appear at press conferences.
As one Liberal MP put it, he was “just a normal guy in a party full of nutters”.
“It’s a massive loss,” another Liberal MP said. “He was our most talented performer in the upper house by a long shot. He wasn’t pretentious, competitive or machiavellian.
“If we can’t keep people like him in the party, then who are we left with?”
The party is acutely aware of the void, electing first-term MP Evan Mulholland unopposed to fill Bach’s position. Speaking on Friday, Mulholland sought to characterise himself as a typical older millennial – a cohort the party knows it desperately needs to win back.
A “former renter in Abbotsford”, Mulholland told reporters he’s now got a mortgage and kids and lives in the suburbs, where the cost of living is biting.
“If you’re an outer-suburban, mid-30s Victorian with a mortgage and a couple of kids, I’m in your corner, and you’ve got a seat at the table,” Mulholland said.
“We’ve got great young people coming into the ranks, like Nicole Werner, Joe McCracken, Jess Wilson, Sam Groth and now myself. That sends a message to young Victorians: we’re on your side and we’re going to fight for you.”
Mulholland is a former Institute of Public Affairs staffer but has sought to differentiate himself from the conservative thinktank while in parliament.
He’s advocated for the decriminalisation of some drugs and more development in established suburbs, in an effort to get more renters into their own homes.
Speaking alongside Mulholland, Pesutto said the opposition had a “strong week” in parliament, though many of his own MPs privately disagree.
After the Liberal party’s win in the Warrandyte byelection – heralded by the deputy leader, David Southwick, as a “new dawn” for the party despite it being a safe seat and Labor’s decision not to run a candidate – its focus was again on itself.
The Liberal leadership on Monday was served with a defamation concern notice by the UK anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen, after her appearance at a March rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
On Wednesday a group of MPs began pushing for a meeting to discuss whether the party should legally indemnify the group. A meeting was booked, then cancelled, then rescheduled to Friday, and then moved to Thursday night, where Bach resigned.
Perhaps one perk is the group finally agreed on something: exploring an indemnity scheme for Liberal MPs.
