James Campbell: Defamation case a rolled gold political disaster for Pesutto

It’s a bit hard to tell how this defamation case is going for John Pesutto, legally speaking. But politically, it’s a rolled gold disaster, thanks to the conga line of Liberal MPs queuing up to give evidence against him.

That Team Pesutto knew Kim Wells’s testimony was going to be a problem could be inferred from the way the opposition leader’s counsel, Matt Collins, felt the need to go through his CV.

For more than a week a procession of witnesses has trouped through Justice O’Callaghan’s court without Collins feeling there was anything to be gained from running through the mighty (shadow) offices of state any of them has held.

But when Wells arrived at the witness box on Monday, Collins felt His Honour ought to have the backbencher’s recent career spelled out for him.

And what did Collins’ LinkedIn adventure tour reveal?

That after being a minister under Ted Baillieu and Denis Napthine, Wells had languished on the backbench for four years under Matthew Guy before his successor, Michael O’Brien, returned him to the thick of things by making him Shadow Minister for Public Sector Integrity, Counter Terrorism and Special Minister of State.

Rowville state Liberal MP Kim Wells came across as open, frank and straight-forward.

Sadly for Wells when Guy returned to the leadership in 2021 he returned him to the backbench where Pesutto has left him since he took over at the end of 2022.

It didn’t take a genius to see where Collins was going with this.

Then we were off into the events of March 2023 and right away it was clear why Collins was in the market for motivation.

Because compared to Deeming and Renee Heath, who needed questions repeated and explained and couldn’t remember all sort of things, Wells came across as open, frank and well – straightforward.

And despite being 66 years old, his memory was a good deal better than his younger colleagues.

Wells’s testimony contained two accusations which, while not necessarily fatal to Pesutto’s prospects in this case, if true, reflect poorly on his character.

Accusation No.1 was that in their first conversation after the fatal Let Women Speak rally, Pesutto told Wells that it was Deeming who had brought the Nazis.

Why is this bad? Because – again if true – it shows he was prepared to say one thing to Deeming and the public but another thing to his colleagues if he thought it suited his agenda.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto arrives at court with his barrister Matthew Collins KC as his defamation battle continues with Moira Deeming. Picture: Aaron Francis

Which obviously is not exactly a new trick in politics, but nor is a good look.

Wells’s other accusation was that in the party room meeting which suspended Deeming, Pesutto had told him he would make a statement essentially exonerating her from the charge of consorting with Nazis, but that he later reneged on this agreement.

Again, not a good look if true.

It’s a bit hard to tell how this case is going for Pesutto.

Legally speaking that is.

Politically, it’s a rolled gold disaster.

As bad as they are, the secret tapes and accusations of bullying and lies aren’t the worst things for him.

Far more devastating is the conga-line of Liberal MPs queuing up to give evidence against him.

Matt Collins can dismiss Kim Wells as a disappointed office seeker if he wants.

Likewise Renee Heath, can be ignored as a frustrated backbencher.

But two of Monday’s witnesses – David Hodgett and Richard Riordan – are in Pesutto’s shadow cabinet while Joe McCracken is a party whip.

Maybe when this is over they can put all this behind them but you’d have to say it’s never going to be “glad confident morning” again.