James Campbell: Pesutto is sitting tight for now, with leadership spill likely kicked down the road

Sam Groth may have wanted to blow John Pesutto’s leadership up by resigning from the frontbench on Friday, but nothing is going to happen next week.

OK — with the massive caveat that things can move quickly in the Victorian Liberal Party — on Saturday afternoon it seemed pretty clear that while John Pesutto is still a decent chance to lose his job, it’s not going to happen next week.

Sam Groth might have wanted to blow Pesutto’s leadership up by resigning from the frontbench on Friday.

But by setting the timer wrong, the only career his martyrdom operation has ended is his own.

And while his fellow conspirators are full of praise for his courage, they’re also well aware he has set their cause back.

By setting the timer wrong, the only career Sam Groth’s martyrdom operation has ended is his own. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

His fellow leadership contender – an unshaven — Brad Battin looked as though he’d rather have been anywhere else than on air and failing to answer Steve Price’s questions on Friday afternoon.

None of which is to say Pesutto is out of the woods.

His problems still remain – the Feds still want him dead and he will need to find a tonne of money to pay Moira Deeming’s damages and – more seriously – her lawyers.

But from everything we can see at the moment, it looks like he will make it to Christmas.

If he has any brains he will spend his break thinking about the least humiliating way he can find to get Moira Deeming back into the Liberal Party room.

Liberal MP Moira Deeming leaves the Federal Court after her defamation win against Liberal leader John Pesutto. Picture: Ian Currie

When this is put to his supporters they start ranting about how her behaviour since she was suspended last year – suing the leader and so on – make that impossible.

They also say she’s given heaps of evidence that even if this episode can be put behind everyone, Deeming has demonstrated in a thousand ways she isn’t a team player and will sooner or later – probably sooner – do something which will mean they have to revisit her ability to sit as a Liberal.

Brad Battin looked as though he’d rather have been anywhere else than on air and failing to answer Steve Price’s questions on Friday afternoon. Picture: Aaron Francis

All of which might be true but it ignores an inescapable fact: for those Liberal Party members who have decided that Deeming was right and Pesutto was wrong, there is now a Federal Court judgment which agrees with them.

In other words, Deeming won and Pesutto lost and if he’s going to get past this he needs to find a way to get her and her supporters back in the tent.