Shannon Deery: Why a united Liberal Party after Deeming expulsion remains wishful thinking

John Pesutto insists Moira Deeming’s expulsion has drawn a line in the sand and united the party but the factionalism that divides it is driven by personalities and ego, which cannot be tamed.

The expulsion of Moira Deeming was an attempt to align the Liberal Party with mainstream voters.

Sending the conservative MP packing was the first major move in Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s bid to reform the party and appeal to a broader range of Victorians.

He hopes he has sent a message to others in the party: fall into line, or be gone.

There is a view that it has cemented his authority as leader, and shown that he has the courage to make tough decisions.

There is, of course, an alternate view: that under his watch the party is quite literally imploding.

He’s been leader for five months and has shown a not unique inability to unite the warring factions that have underpinned three successive election thumpings.

Pesutto insists Deeming’s expulsion has drawn a line in the sand, and united the team.

But that’s rubbish, and he knows it.

John Pesutto insists Moira Deeming’s expulsion has drawn a line in the sand but that’s rubbish and he knows it. Picture: Facebook

The factionalism that divides the party is driven by personalities and ego, neither of which can be tamed.

It has led to a complete inability of the conservatives and moderates to work together, so any talk of a united team is wishful thinking at best, and utter ignorance at worst.

A major challenge for Pesutto will be coralling MPs.

But another challenge will be convincing them, and Victorians, he’s the right man for the job.

A worry for some Liberals is that he is starting to look like a man who says one thing, but means another.

Ask the man he replaced, Matthew Guy, how that worked out.

Guy is lamented as being far too eager to please everyone, even when he knew he couldn’t.

When Pesutto took over from Guy in December, he promised to “work to reach the broadest possible audience of Victorians”.

He promised to appeal to voters with “more progressive dispositions and more conservative dispositions”.

And he promised to give Renee Heath, a newly elected conservative who faced the threat of expulsion under Guy, a “fair go”.

John Pesutto might well be asking himself whether this was a fight worth taking on, because his career could very well depend on it. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

In the five months since declaring those lofty aspirations he has failed to attract new support, alienated conservatives within the party, and sanctioned Heath.

That more than a third of the partyroom didn’t fall into line to support expelling Deeming is a major blow to Pesutto’s leadership.

His inability to articulate why she was expelled could further erode confidence that he is the right man for the job.

He has presided over one of the messiest sagas in recent Victorian political history, and with a lengthy defamation battle looming it’s far from over.

Worse still, this saga was one of his own making.

Pesutto might well be asking himself whether this was a fight worth taking on, because his career could very well depend on it.