John Pesutto asks Liberal donor Cormack Foundation to cover legal costs of Moira Deeming defamation case

Former Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has asked the Cormack Foundation to cover his multimillion-dollar legal costs racked up when he was successfully sued for defamation by Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

John Pesutto has asked the Liberal Party’s investment arm to help him avoid bankruptcy and stump up the mammoth legal costs expected to come from his long-running defamation feud with Moira Deeming.

The Herald Sun can reveal the former Victorian Opposition Leader is hoping the Cormack Foundation will agree to help pay his legal costs which could be anywhere between $1.8m to$2.4m.

The Federal Court will on Friday deliver its final determination on how much of Mrs Deeming’s legal costs Mr Pesutto must pay after he was found to have defamed her in his bid to expel her from the parliamentary wing of the Liberal Party.

Mr Pesutto has had discussions with Cormack throughout his entire legal fight, but has been in closer contact in recent weeks as he waits to learn about his financial fate.

John Pesutto has asked the Cormack Foundation to cover his defamation legal costs. Picture: Mark Stewart

It’s understood that a private fundraising effort has so far raised about $500,000 to Mr Pesutto’s cause.

And a group of supporters, mostly located in his electorate of Hawthorn, have started a crowd-funding page which would likely go live on Friday.

But without a financial guarantee from Cormack, Mr Pesutto would struggle to avoid bankruptcy.

If he ultimately filed for bankruptcy he would be ineligible to sit in parliament and would force a by-election in the seat of Hawthorn.

“John just doesn’t have the money and unlike other MPs he doesn’t have investment properties that he can sell,” one close ally said.

“Once that order is handed down, the clock starts ticking and he’s got 21 days.

“If he goes bankrupt, we’re heading to a by-election.”

Pesutto was found to have defamed Moira Deeming. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Senior Liberals have for months been planning a potential by-election with fears the party would fail to hold onto the seat it holds with a narrow 3.4 per cent margin.

There are concerns the changing demographics in the seat, as well the federal election results, could see it won by Labor or a strong Teal independent.

Liberals are keen to avoid a by election at all costs particularly because of the electoral test it would set for new Opposition Leader Brad Battin whose first polling numbers showed the Coalition’s primary vote go backwards for the first time in more than a year.

Senior Liberal supporters of Mr Pesutto have been making the case to the Cormack Foundation that the party would likely have to stump up more than $500,000, but as much as $1m, to run a decent campaign.

“We will not hold Hawthorn unless a serious amount of resources are thrown at the seat,” one insider said.

“To try and run a campaign to hold the seat, you could be talking about $1m to hold the seat.

“The Liberal Party has got to work out whether they want to lose a former leader and then write off Hawthorn and spend no money on a campaign, but that will ultimately make the job of winning the 2026 election even harder.”

Mr Pesutto has already paid Mrs Deeming $300,000 in damages.

Mr Pesutto held the seat of Hawthorn from 2014 to 2018 when he lost it to Labor before winning it back at the 2022 election.

Federal Court justice David Justice O’Callaghan found Mr Pesutto had made defamatory imputations in five publications after moving to expel Mrs Deeming from the party because she attended a Let Women Speak Rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis in March 2023.

Justice O’Callaghan found Ms Deeming had established the publication of each of the five impugned publications “has caused, or is likely to cause, serious harm to her reputation”.

Originally published as John Pesutto asks Liberal donor Cormack Foundation to cover legal costs of Moira Deeming defamation case