James Campbell: John Pesutto’s second day in the witness box did not go well for him

Opposition Leader John Pesutto has spent his second day in the witness box and his latest bout with Sydney SC Sue Chrysanthou did not go well for him.

Day eight of Moira Deeming versus John Pesutto saw the Opposition Leader spend his second day in the witness box and I have to tell you sports fans it did not go well for him.

On Tuesday Deeming’s brief Sydney SC Sue Chrysanthou had ended the day by throwing wild haymakers about five year old comments of Pesutto’s about African gangs.

It was entertaining stuff but the relevance to the legal matters under discussion were – to put it politely – not immediately apparent.

She carried on with this stuff on Wednesday morning quoting a message Pesutto received from a local supporter which referenced the black gangs

She tried to suggest this showed he had attempted to be economical with the truth when she asked him about it a day earlier.

It was clearly a stretch.

From where I was sitting it seemed pretty clear Pesutto’s reluctance to concede Chrysanthou’s point was less about his memory of that whole episode than a desire she confine herself to his personal involvement.

For much of the morning the pair sparred without Chrysanthou landing a blow.

John Pesutto arrives at court with his wife Betty. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

But then she started fishing, asking the Liberal Leader about what sort of opinions are or are not acceptable in Liberal Party.

Now throughout Pesutto’s testimony he has for some reason been desperate to make it appear his problem with Deeming’s position on transsexuals is not so much her views themselves so much as the way she went about prosecuting them.

It was, he has stressed, not just a matter of substance but also one of tone.

Whether this stance is sincerely held or necessary to aid his defence in this case or as a way of managing Liberal Party’s divisions on social questions, well that is hard to say.

What is clear however is there are some views which even the broad church cannot accommodate and support for Hamas is one of them.

But when Chrysanthou put it to Pesutto that it was possible that some might hold that “the attacks on October 7 were legitimate acts of resistance by Hamas” for some bizarre reason he did not sense the danger.

“You consider that to be a controversial view don’t you?”

That this is indeed a controversial view you would think would be most uncontroversial thing for a Liberal to say.

Moira Deeming leaves court with her barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC. Picture: Aaron Francis

But instead we got this:

“Err it depends what disposition you bring to a sensitive issue I think Your Honour. We’ve probably heard ad nauseam the talk about in some of those videos that you watched (about) the need to be civil and courteous in discourse. So as a broad proposition I accept that but – I accept that that view is held – but my counsel more broadly to everybody is to be as temperate as possible in those debates.”

Pesutto fans watching the fight at home on YouTube must have been screaming: “Dude! Look out!!”

Chrysanthou pressed the point not really expecting I suspect that her opponent was about to drop his guard.

“You wouldn’t consider it appropriate, would you, to expel a member of the Liberal Party who had publicly expressed that view in the last nine months or year?”

I don’t have to tell you – politically speaking – the correct answer to that question was a simple: “Yes”.

Mr Pesutto was asked about what sort of opinions are or are not acceptable in Liberal Party. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

Instead we got this:

“Aaah, Your Honour I would have to consider the circumstances. It’s not a statement I agree with. But it doesn’t mean it’s outrageous or heretical or worthy of some kind of referral to the disciplinary processes of the parliamentary Liberal Party. It’s at odds with the prevailing view of the Liberal Party that’s for sure.”

Sorry? What?

Surely the man cannot seriously believe this.

There’s a place in politics for people who think the murder and rape of Israelis by a proscribed terrorist organisation is as a legitimate act of resistance and not outrageous or heretical or worthy of disciplinary processes.

It’s called the Australian L-A-B-O-R Party.

Thanks for coming Mr Pesutto, if you could just close the door on your way out.