John Pesutto expected to face ‘venom’ at crucial Liberal party room meeting

John Pesutto will face a major test as opposition leader on Tuesday when he fronts a fractured Liberal party room for the first time since telling agitators to “bring it”.

The Age spoke to nine MPs on Monday who all said that a potential spill motion, which Pesutto conceded last week was on the cards, had run out of steam and was unlikely to go to a vote.

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto will attempt to quell party room divisions at a crucial meeting on Tuesday. Credit: Darrian Traynor

However, the majority still expected there to be tense scenes at the meeting, with disgruntled MPs likely to vent their frustrations with the leadership team.

At a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday, Pesutto reassured colleagues that he would work to unite the party amid the damaging defamation case he has been defending against ousted party member Moira Deeming.

Pesutto acknowledged the strain the case had put on MPs in recent weeks, according to four shadow ministers who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. But he promised to work hard to unify the fractured party room when it meets on Tuesday for the first time in more than a month.

“We’re all gonna be mates,” one shadow minister said.

Another said of Tuesday’s potential spill motion: “It’s clearly a fizzer.”

But a third said they still expected some “venom” at the meeting so that Pesutto’s detractors could save face.

The meeting will be the first time MPs have gathered at parliament since it was revealed deputy Liberal leader David Southwick secretly recorded a meeting between senior leaders and Deeming last year.

The recording was played in the Federal Court last month as part of the defamation trial between Deeming and Pesutto.

Deeming alleges Pesutto defamed her as a Nazi sympathiser in seeking her expulsion from the party room after an anti-trans rights rally she helped organise in March 2023. Neo-Nazis were among several groups of protesters that arrived that day. Deeming has condemned nazism, and Pesutto is fighting Deeming’s claim.

Leadership rumblings began at the start of October, with plotters hoping to launch a spill motion as the party’s team of 30 gathered for the resumption of state parliament this week.

Former treasurer Kim Wells last week said he had received numerous calls from colleagues asking him to run for leader or deputy, and it was later reported that Mornington MP Chris Crewther was considering a tilt.

Frontbenchers Sam Groth, Brad Battin, James Newbury and Brad Rowswell have also been touted by colleagues as possible candidates in the event of a spill, but sources said they had not been canvassing support.

Melbourne Federal Court Justice David O’Callaghan is expected to release his judgement in the Deeming and Pesutto defamation trial by early December. MPs fear the ruling could trigger another round of instability in the event Pesutto either loses the case or the leadership team is scolded in O’Callaghan’s findings.

“Labor are on the nose,” one Liberal MP told The Age. “We’ve just got to keep our s--- together.”

Another point of contention within the party room has been Deeming’s expulsion from the parliamentary party. Conservative backers have been pushing to have her returned.

Pesutto told this masthead last week he was having constructive discussions with his MPs to repair relationships.

“They’re not always easy discussions, but there are lots of discussions going on between colleagues, and I’m actually feeling quite optimistic that we’re putting all of that behind us,” he said.

A RedBridge poll released last week in the Herald Sun had the Coalition narrowly leading Labor in a two-party preferred vote in Victoria for the first time since 2017.

“We should get the bloke out more,” one Liberal MP said of Pesutto.

But lingering tensions were still on display on Monday, with conservative MP Beverley McArthur given five opportunities to personally endorse Pesutto during a radio interview, but declining to do so on each occasion.

McArthur told ABC Melbourne: “He is the leader and, as far as I know, he will remain the leader.

“I’ve come here to talk about the premier’s failure. We’re the most overtaxed state in the country. We can’t do a project on time or on budget. I’ve got bits falling off wind towers in my electorate. We have to have a roadworthy car, but we don’t have any roadworthy roads.”

When host Raf Epstein pointed out that he was simply asking if McArthur backed Pesutto, the MP replied: “I’m absolutely supportive of what the party room decides.”

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