Shannon Deery: Brad Battin’s support of John Pesutto bailout opens can of worms among conservative bloc

Brad Battin’s support of a bailout to cover John Pesutto’s legal costs has opened a whole new can of worms among the conservative bloc who helped him gain the Victorian Liberal Party leadership — one that risks being fatal.

To think the bailout deal to save John Pesutto’s political career means the long-running Deeming saga now ends is to fundamentally misunderstand the Victorian Liberal Party.

Many hoped Thursday night’s deal — that will see Pesutto loaned $1.55m so he can clear his $2.3m debt to Deeming and avoid bankruptcy — would be the end of the matter.

It might be for Pesutto.

It might even be for Deeming.

But this is a saga with no willing or natural end, so chalk the loan deal up as just the latest but not yet final chapter in the long running war.

It’s a war Pesutto and Deeming may have started, but it broadened quickly as individual armies of support grew behind them.

John Pesutto ahead the party meeting which granted him a bailout. Picture: Nadir Kinani

The issue now sits deep within the divide that separates the party’s moderates and conservatives.

It was the conservatives Opposition Leader Brad Battin needed to woo as he worked the numbers to mount his festive coup to oust Pesutto in the days after Christmas.

It is those same conservatives, feeling betrayed, could shift their support and move to oust Battin because of his efforts to save Pesutto.

How ironic.

A sense of apoplectic rage swept through the conservative bloc of MPs and members on Thursday night after news of the loan deal broke.

That rage was amplified on Friday morning when Battin confirmed that he had voted to secure the deal at a meeting of the party’s administrative committee.

Those backing Deeming never wanted him to pick a side.

“He betrayed the group who put him there who only wanted him to do the easy moral and legally justifiable thing,” one MP said.

Conservative Libs are not happy Battin voted for the bailout. Picture: Nadir Kinani

Having been forcibly dragged into the drama Battin took too long to show leadership and state a clear position on the issue.

That could have and should have involved bringing the warring parties together and laying down the law of what he expected: closure and unity.

But in failing to do that his best case scenario was to have been able to abstain from voting.

Once forced into a vote he was snookered.

Backing Pesutto meant avoiding a dangerous Hawthorn by-election, attempting to create some stability, and saving his own leadership, but enraging the conservatives.

Backing Deeming meant keeping his conservative bloc firmly behind him, but almost certainly triggering a by-election the party feared losing.

Both, ultimately, potentially politically fatal moves.

In backing Pesutto logic says the matter ends, the money is repaid and the party can look toward the 2026 election.

But this is the Victorian Liberal Party where logic knows no home.

Deeming successfully sued Pesutto for defamation. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Battin has opened for himself a can of worms and he will need to move fast to put the lid back on.

It will involve placating the conservative bloc, an almost certain and significant shadow Cabinet reshuffle, and manage freshly opened wounds.

With preselections nearing, Battin must also turn his mind to scenarios where any of the disaffected are disendorsed.

Imagine the damage they could inflict with 12 months inside the party room but no political future.

There will be tough decisions that need to be made and leadership shown and Battin will likely be even more beholden to the conservative bloc than he already is.

It would take just a few of them to switch allegiances to make a leadership coup not just a possibility, but an almost certainty.

No, this is not the end of the saga. Not even close.