Opposition leader John Pesutto accused of presiding over a culture of bullying

Daniel Andrews has urged Liberal MPs to speak to the workplace umpire amid bullying accusations against party leader John Pesutto.

Some MPs have raised concerns about John Pesutto’s alleged conduct towards Renee Heath. Picture: Luis Ascui

Allies of John Pesutto have defended the Opposition Leader over allegations he has presided over a culture of bullying, with one MP lashing out at a group of “terrorists” within the Liberals.

MPs who back Mr Pesutto in the party room on Thursday denied he was a bully and called on the party to stop fighting internally.

And Mr Pesutto has hit back at colleauges who detailed bullying allegations to the Herald Sun, saying “they need to think about whether they” want to remain in the team long term.

Mr Pesutto rejected claims that he was a bully, and said there was no bullying culture within his party.

“There is no such culture in the Liberal Party,” he said.

“I want to reform the Liberal Party so it can be an effective opposition and a good government going forward. The overwhelming majority of my colleagues want the same thing and are part of that journey too.

“Anyone who wants to anonymously brief out stories, it’s the easiest thing in the world to do. It’s not constructive, it doesn’t help the efforts that we have to undertake to be a good opposition and eventually the new government in Victoria.”

Shadow frontbencher Matt Bach has defended his leader against bullying claims. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Asked if he trusted his colleagues, Mr Pesutto said: “I will trust everybody who shares that vision.”

But he acknowledged that not everyone in his team shared that same vision.

“Let’s be realistic and be candid about what’s happened. Three people have briefed media overnight. They need to think about whether they can be part of that effort,” he said.

“Anybody who is talking anonymously in this way would have to think about ‘why are you here?’.”

Mr Pesutto said he was confident he had the backing of his party room more broadly.

“As a new leader going through a reform process that will take some time, I am determined to see this through for the benefit of Victorians and our great state,” he said.

He said unnamed MPs within his ranks must consider whether they want to remain part of a reformed Liberal Party.

“If people don’t want to be a part of that reform project, then I think it’s important that they consider their position,” he said.

“Do they want to remain in the team long term?”

But Premier Daniel Andrews urged the MPs to dob Mr Pesutto into WorkCover to be investigated.

“I did see the Shadow Minister for WorkCover (Ann-Marie Hermans) out there talking about occupational health and safety,” the Premier said.

“If the Liberal Party cares about occupational health and safety they ought to dob their leader into WorkCover for some of his conduct.

“That’s what they perhaps should do, rather than pretending to be a friend of workers — because no one is buying that. Maybe they should look a little bit closer to home.

“They might want to take action there.”

Brighton MP James Newbury blamed the scandal on a group of MPs undermining their leader.

“There is a group of three or four terrorists who care more about blowing up the Liberal party than they do Daniel Andrews,” he said.

“They’re holding the Liberal Party hostage.

Brighton MP James Newbury has branded a group of his colleagues “terrorists”. Picture: Jason Edwards

“They need to work out whether they’re Liberals or whether they want to sit on the crossbench. Everybody has had enough.

“They need to do the right thing by the Liberal party room, by Liberal voters and by Victorians more broadly.”

Former Opposition Leader Matthew Guy echoed Mr Newbury’s comments.

“There’s a couple of terrorists within the parliamentary party who need to work out whether they want to sit with the parliamentary party or not,” he said.

“The vast majority of us back John Pesutto and continue to back John Pesutto because he’s a very good leader.

“We’re not going to allow John Pesutto to be attacked in this way by a very small few and they need to work out if they want to sit with us or not.”

Upper house MP Moira Deeming, who is currently serving a suspension from the Liberal party room, said she wouldn’t buy into “ridiculous language” when asked about Mr Newbury’s and Mr Guy’s comments.

When asked if the situation could have been avoided if the saga around her suspension had been handled better, Ms Deeming would not be drawn and said “everybody has their own opinion”.

Shadow frontbencher Matt Bach said the allegations were a “load of old cobblers”.

“John Pesutto always acts in a way that is decent and kind and inclusive,” he said.

South West Coast MP Roma Britnell said she had been in the party room meeting and the incident the allegations revolved around was about minutes of the meeting and the style in which this was taken down.

“At no time was John discourteous, disrespectful. I never saw anything that could be construed as that.”

Mr Pesutto accepted his partyroom was split but said he was confident he could unite the team.

But he urged those briefing against him to consider their position within the party vowing to reform the party with or without them.

“Reform isn’t easy. Sometimes there are people who don’t want to accept that,” he said.

“Like perhaps the people who don’t put their name to their comments and go to the media

“This is about a style of behaviour and a pattern of behaviour, and I’m trying to put a stop to it, and I will.”

Victorian Libs at war over bullying claims

Opposition leader John Pesutto is facing allegations he is presiding over a culture of bullying within the Liberal Party.

Three MPs, speaking on the condition of anonymity, say they are being bullied by the party’s leadership team.

The MPs allege they are being subjected to intimidation tactics by senior party figures who want them to stay silent on key issues.

A colleague is now considering lodging a formal complaint to the Department of Parliamentary Services on behalf of one of the MPs.

It comes after a heated party room meeting on Tuesday morning which resulted in upper house MP Renee Heath leaving in tears.

MP Renee Heath was left in tears at a heated meeting. Picture: Facebook

Multiple sources have detailed the fiery exchange to the Herald Sun which occurred after Mr Pesutto is alleged to have accused Dr Heath of tampering with the minutes from a party room meeting in March to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal parliamentary team.

In her role as party room secretary, Dr Heath is required to take down the minutes of what is said in each meeting.

Supporters of Dr Heath told the Herald Sun that she was asked to provide the minutes from the March meeting.

Dr Heath provided three different versions of the minutes, which she said was because the first copy was full of spelling mistakes and double ups.

The second version was a neatened up copy of the initial notes. But she then provided a third batch of notes which included comments from upper house MP Ann-Marie Hermans, which had initially been left out.

A source in the room on Tuesday, speaking anonymously to explain what happened, said Mr Pesutto immediately moved a motion to reject the minutes provided by Dr Heath.

John Pesutto is accused of presiding over a culture of bullying within the Liberal Party. Picture: Luis Ascui

This was seconded by upper house MP Ann-Marie Hermans who strongly supported the accusations against Dr Heath.

Dr Heath later penned a letter to colleagues where she said that she was feeling “so shaken” and “very upset” by the way she was allegedly treated in the meeting.

“I once again feel completely stitched up and misrepresented by the leadership with no ability to defend myself. I wasn’t even given the space to correct the mistruths about me in today’s meeting,” she wrote in an email that was obtained by the Herald Sun.

“I am upset. Very upset. The way I have been treated and the way other conservative women in this party are treated is nothing short of bullying.

“Why can’t we respect each other? Why can’t you have an idea or a difference of opinions without having eyes rolled, and nasty and personal interjections?”

Several MPs, speaking on the condition of anonymity, slammed Mr Pesutto’s alleged conduct towards Dr Heath during the meeting.

“He was very cruel to her. I thought he was continuously showing her up in the party room as being incompetent. It was incredibly unfair,” one MP said.

Another added: “It was just pure chaos. The way Renee was spoken to was borderline abusive. I think John feels that he has to demonstrate strong leadership but he does that through targeting those who he feels would be weak.”

It’s not the first time that Mr Pesutto’s leadership has been called into question. In March, he failed in a bid to boot controversial MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary Liberal Party over her views on transgender people.

Instead, Mr Pesutto compromised on hitting Ms Deeming with a nine-month suspension.

In December last year, Mr Pesutto won a leadership ballot by a single vote over challenger Brad Battin.

A Liberal source said the behaviour displayed in the meeting is “emblematic of the culture perpetuated by the mean girls clique at the top of the parliamentary party”.

“The Victorian Liberal Party will continue to be electorally irrelevant until this culture of bullying anyone who has a different opinion to the leadership is expunged and the perpetrators are moved out to pasture,” they said.

An opposition spokesman for Mr Pesutto said it would not comment on an internal party meeting.

Dr Heath declined to comment.

Originally published as Opposition leader John Pesutto accused of presiding over a culture of bullying