‘Leadership is absent’: Former Liberal leader Jeff Kennett’s grim warning over Victorian party
Former Premier Jeff Kennett has warned the “dysfunctional” Victorian Liberal Party is facing a crisis, with internal fights threatening its future.
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Former Premier Jeff Kennett has warned the Victorian Liberal Party is facing a crisis, with internal fights threatening its future.
The party stalwart on Wednesday night brushed off threats that Liberal MP Moira Deeming could sue him if $2.3m in court-ordered legal costs linked to her defamation win against former opposition leader John Pesutto were not paid by Friday.
But he warned the ongoing internal fallout was tearing the party apart, labelling it
“dysfunctional”.
“Sadly our members and volunteers deserve so much better,” Mr Kennett said.
“Leadership is absent (and) they are prepared to bankrupt one of their own. What values does the party have when it won’t embrace one of its own?”
It came as a rumoured meeting of the Liberal Party on Wednesday night to discuss funding for Mr Pesutto’s case did not go ahead.
The Liberal Party has ripped itself in two in recent weeks amid differing views on whether or not it should help fund Mr Pesutto’s legal bill.
He is due to be issued with a bankruptcy on notice on Friday unless he clears the $2.3m costs order he owes Mrs Deeming, who successfully sued him for defamation.
He would then have a further 21 days to pay the bill or face bankruptcy, which would render him ineligible to sit in parliament and trigger a by-election.
It emerged this week Ms Deeming had flagged legal action against some of the state’s most well-known Liberals, including three former premiers — Mr Kennett, Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine — and two sitting MPs, to recoup the money.
But a favourite to steal the seat of Hawthorn off the Liberal Party should Mr Pesutto be declared bankrupt, Rob Baillieu, has thrown his full support behind the embattled former opposition leader.
Rob Baillieu, a current Boroondara City councillor and the son of former premier Ted Baillieu, is considered a hot favourite to run as an independent in the event of a by-election.
Senior Liberals believe Mr Baillieu would have no problem winning the electorate his father held from 1999 until Mr Pesutto won the seat at the 2014 election.
While refusing to say whether he would consider a tilt at state politics, Rob Baillieu said he was backing Mr Pesutto to remain the member for Hawthorn.
“John has a wonderful young family and he doesn’t deserve to go bankrupt,” he said.
“The party should back their former leader.”
Mr Baillieu was the former volunteer manager for Dr Monique Ryan, the Teal independent for the federal seat of Kooyong, and has volunteered for various other independent candidates.
He has been publicly critical of the Liberal Party, warning in 2022 it was suffering from a “lack of substantive leadership has caused the Liberal Party to lose its way”.
Mr Baillieu has also donated $500 to Mr Pesutto’s GoFundMe campaign which has so far raised almost $185,000 of a $3m target.
Originally published as ‘Leadership is absent’: Former Liberal leader Jeff Kennett’s grim warning over Victorian party
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