James Campbell: Jacinta Allan’s crime blitz appears to have been last straw for Liberal MPs over whether Brad Battin needed to go

Either because he didn’t want to, or it was intellectually beyond him, Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin ignored pleas to put tax, debt and the economy at the centre of his pitch over crime. And it appears to have been the final straw.

Jacinta Allan’s youth crime blitz appears to have been the final straw for Liberal MPs debating whether Brad Battin needed to go.

For months colleagues had repeatedly warned the Liberal leader that while crime is important, it won’t be enough to get them into government.

To win, he was told, the party will need a strong economic narrative.

Brad Battin had been warned by colleagues that crime was not enough to get into government. Picture: David Crosling

But either because he didn’t want to, or it was intellectually beyond him, Battin ignored pleas to put tax, debt and the economy at the centre of his pitch to Victorians.

However, while the move against Battin, which has taken a number of MPs by surprise, might have been triggered by Allan’s crime crackdown, its foundation was laid by last month’s reshuffle of the shadow cabinet.

Last December Battin gave James Newbury the treasury portfolio as part of the deal that netted him the leadership.

It is clear now, ripping up that deal a month ago and replacing him with Jess Wilson was a disastrous decision.

The move was intended to deter Wilson from challenging him.

Replacing James Newbury with Jess Wilson was a disastrous decision. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

But far from buying her off, insiders say that upon being moved out of treasury, Newbury immediately began negotiating with the Right’s leader Bev McArthur on a deal to make her leader.

Outsiders may wonder how it came to be that having spent years working to make Battin leader, McArthur should have turned from him in less than 12 months.

The explanation for the shift is threefold.

First, like many of his colleagues, McArthur has been alarmed at Battin’s inability to grasp the policy detail required for the leadership.

Secondly, like much of the Right, she was infuriated by Battin’s support for the deal which saw the Liberal Party lending John Pesutto the money to pay off Moira Deeming’s legal bills from her legal action against the then Opposition leader.

But colleagues say her support for Wilson has been sealed by a deal that will see her achieve her long-time ambition of replacing David Davis as leader in the upper house.

Battin, it appears, was a poor judge of who to trust.

Promoting Nick McGowan – and taking him and Wilson to China – didn’t buy his loyalty as the upper house MP was part of the delegation on Monday that told Battin his time was up.

Liberal MPs are under no illusions that moving a third leader in less than a year is risky.

They are also well aware that a former copper from Berwick who has run a Baker’s Delight, should on the face of it be a much easier sell to Victorians as an everyman premier than a 30-something private school ex-staffer who has barely had a job outside politics.

It’s a measure of how worried they are about his competence – not to mention the noses he has put out of joint – that enough of his colleagues are prepared to seek his replacement.

The Liberals will be hoping a successful move will bring stability in the run up to next year’s election.

But they were hoping for that a year ago and look how that turned out.

Originally published as James Campbell: Jacinta Allan’s crime blitz appears to have been last straw for Liberal MPs over whether Brad Battin needed to go