Brad Battin marked downfall in ‘big night’ with team, says he doesn’t regret focus on crime
Toppled Liberal leader Brad Battin, who drowned his sorrows in a “big night” with his team, has revealed a key mistake which cost him his leadership, and the issue which he won’t apologise for.
A hungover Brad Battin says there are “probably many reasons” he lost the leadership but has denied that his focus on crime was one of them.
Mr Battin, dusty on Wednesday morning after a “big night” with his team after being toppled by new leader Jess Wilson, conceded his reshuffle last month had ruffled too many feathers.
Most notable was Mr Battin’s decision to shift James Newbury to shadow attorney general and promote Ms Wilson to shadow treasurer.
“Internally, obviously we’ve had some challenges there, and I made some changes that people weren’t happy with,” he said.
Asked whether he was wrong to spend so much time talking about crime, Mr Battin said “not at all”.
“You can go around and have a look each and every day at what’s happening in the crime and I think in the last few days, there’s been more attacks,” he said.
“We need to make sure that the focus for us is to not just crime, but other areas and other portfolios.
“But were we too focused on it? No we were focused on what people were telling us in the community.”
While new polling revealed by the Herald Sun on Tuesday showed Mr Battin was in an election-winning position for the first time in months, following months of messaging on crime, the Allan government’s latest crime crackdown had worried some Liberal MPs that crime was no longer a difference between the parties.
Ms Wilson made clear on Tuesday that her focus would be on the economy, particularly wrangling soaring state debt.
Mr Battin also revealed he had been telling Liberal members in recent days that Ms Wilson would be “great leader”.
“I said the other day at an event with the Young Liberals that Jess is going to be a great leader of the party,” he said.
“This is before she got there.
“She’ll be a great leader of the party, and I’m sure she will achieve that, and Victorians will be very proud to see her go through.”
Mr Battin said she was the “right person” to take the Liberals to next year’s election and was in a “great position” to win.
“The work she’s done with me for the past couple of years has been amazing,” he said.
“If I was a betting man, I’d be getting on sports bet and having a crack at the Liberal Party.”
Veteran Liberal MP Kim Wells said swapping out Mr Battin for Ms Wilson was a “fantastic move” as he welcomed a renewed focus on a “range of issues” rather than “just law and order”.
“There were a number of internal issues that needed to be dealt with that weren’t being dealt with,” he said.
“Now we have a new leader and we’re up and running.”
Mr Wells said one of those issues was the ongoing Supreme Court battle over the party’s $1.55m loan to John Pesutto but that there was still no clear way forward.
“That’s one of the issues that will have to be sorted,” he said.
Pressed over whether he was confident the new, cross factional leadership team would neutralise years of infighting, Mr Wells said there would be “healthy tensions”.
“I’ve been in the party for 1000 years and where there has been that healthy tension I think it’s fine,” he said.
Mr Wells, however, conceded that the optics of changing leaders so often, and so close to an election, were “not that great”.
“But I think ... we will start the new year with a fresh team,” he said, adding that the party will have “plenty of time” to campaign.
Speaking outside parliament on Wednesday, former Liberal leader John Pesutto aid he believed that Mr Battin could have won the election, but that Ms Wilson gave them a better chance.
“We have drawn a line in the sand as Jess said and we are focused on the future,” he said.
Originally published as Brad Battin marked downfall in ‘big night’ with team, says he doesn’t regret focus on crime
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