Brad Battin, having rolled Pesutto, promises unity and makes election pitch

Newly elected Liberal leader Brad Battin aimed his opening pitch on Friday squarely at outer-suburban voters, promising to toughen bail laws, slash taxes and fix potholes.

Battin, a 49-year-old former policeman and small business owner who clinched the party leadership in his third attempt over the past four years, repeatedly stressed his law and order credentials and pledged to focus on the needs of people living in growth corridors like his home suburb of Berwick.

He also fronted an all-male leadership team newly elected by the Liberal party room to take on Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Treasurer and upper house leader Jaclyn Symes, and Labor’s female ministers in key portfolios including health, housing and planning.

Battin vowed to bring his party together following the internecine campaign that had been waged by supporters of exiled MP Moira Deeming to attack deposed opposition leader John Pesutto. The party room voted to readmit Deeming shortly before it elected Battin as leader.

In a 20-minute press conference Battin used the word united 15 times.

“Today, I fought to bring a woman back into the party room, and I will continue to make sure that females and women are heard in that party room and on the frontbench,” he said after facing questions about his all-male team.

Battin, a self-described atheist who supports raising the age of criminal responsibility, aligned himself with staunch conservatives to defeat finance spokeswoman Jess Wilson and Mornington MP Chris Crewther in a party room showdown on Friday morning that ended Pesutto’s two years as leader.

Pesutto – the party’s most popular leader in recent history according to published polls – stepped down after the party voted 18-10 to spill all leadership positions. The Hawthorn MP said he would stay on to represent his inner-city marginal electorate. He joins Michael O’Brien as the only other Victorian opposition leader this century not to lead his party to an election.

The party voted overwhelmingly for Deeming’s return. A short time after the ballot, she walked into the party room wearing a blue blazer, the traditional Liberal colour.

After the vote, Deeming said Pesutto shook her hand and personally apologised during the party room meeting. “I have to actually give credit to John Pesutto,” she said, adding that she had accepted his apology and took no glee from his removal as leader.

“He has apologised to me today, and that’s the end of it. The only thing left is just officially retracting the defamatory documents, and we’re done.”

The spill motion against Pesutto was precipitated by Deeming’s protracted defamation case against him, Federal Court justice David O’Callaghan’s damning findings in her favour and last week’s shock party room ballot when a vote on her readmission split the party 14-14.

O’Callaghan two weeks ago found Pesutto defamed Deeming as a Nazi sympathiser in the days after the Let Women Speak rally that she helped organise in March 2023 was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Pesutto kicked her out of the Liberal party room shortly after, and last week’s ballot was the first time that decision was tested in the party room. Following a tumultuous week marked by febrile leadership speculation, Pesutto changed his mind and said he would allow Deeming to return after all. But it was too little, too late to save his leadership.

Newly elected opposition leader Brad Battin.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Former tennis star and first-term MP Sam Groth was elected unopposed as deputy Liberal leader, replacing David Southwick, while energy spokesperson David Davis was selected to replace Georgie Crozier as upper house leader, also unopposed.

Evan Mulholland will continue to serve as deputy leader in the upper house. His re-election was the sole win for the moderates on Friday. He won 15 votes to 13 against Western Victoria MP Beverley McArthur. The margin suggests that at least two of Battin’s supporters refused to back the elevation of McArthur, an arch-conservative and key ally of Deeming.

Nationals leader Danny O’Brien congratulated Battin on his victory and said the Coalition needed to offer a “united alternative” to defeat Labor at the 2026 election.

Battin said he would consult widely with his colleagues before making any appointments to shadow cabinet. Three party sources confirmed that James Newbury, a former supporter of Pesutto who switched allegiance to Battin, had been promised the shadow treasury.

Moira Deeming re-entering the party room on Friday. Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Battin will also come under pressure to use his frontbench to address the gender imbalance of his leadership team.

One Liberal MP gawked at the all-male line-up, while a former Liberal MP said it left the party vulnerable to Labor attack. “In this day and age, not having any women in the leadership team is not a great look,” they said.

Jess Wilson arrives at the meeting.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Wilson, considered a moderate and rising star, finished third in the first-round ballot, leaving Battin and Crewther as the candidates in the final vote, which Battin won 21-7. An early vote on a Pesutto suggestion to allow MPs currently overseas to cast their ballots remotely was defeated. This meant that Cindy McLeish, Nick McGowan and Richard Welch were unable to vote. Pesutto had said he would not stand in a contest for leader if the spill motion passed, which it did.

Battin had previously contested the leadership in 2021 but failed to oust former party leader Michael O’Brien. He then lost to Pesutto by one vote shortly after the party’s 2022 election loss.

Pesutto exited the party room flanked by his former leadership team of Crozier and Southwick. “I congratulate Brad Battin, we’ve known each other for a long time,” he said. Wilson said the party needed to come together after Friday’s vote and focus on winning the 2026 election.

Battin and his new team will face an immediate electoral test in the byelection in Prahran, an inner-city, Greens-held seat that goes to the polls on February 8. This will be followed by a byelection in Werribee, an outer-suburban electorate typical of the kind Battin is targeting in his attempt to return the Liberals to government for the first time since 2014. The Werribee byelection was prompted by the resignation of former treasurer Tim Pallas, and the seat of Prahran is in play after Greens MP Sam Hibbins resigned.

Asked on ABC Radio before Friday’s ballot who she would prefer to face as opposition leader, Premier Jacinta Allan said she would “leave the Liberal Party infighting to the Liberal Party”.

In a statement, Health Minister and Leader of the House Mary-Anne Thomas described Battin as the “most extreme Liberal leader in history”.

“The first thing he did as leader is outline his plan for cutting frontline services that Victorians rely on. He has put together a right-wing leadership that doesn’t include any women,” Thomas said.

As Liberal MPs headed home to resume their interrupted Christmas holidays, their focus turned to the shape of the new shadow cabinet, the identity of Battin’s key advisers and whether their party was closer or further away from beating Labor.

From left: Joe McCracken, Nicole Werner, Sam Groth, Bridget Vallence, Richard Riordan and Brad Battin.Credit: Eddie Jim

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