The damage done to John Pesutto’s authority, and questions around his political judgment, will now plague him for as long as he remains leader

John Pesutto has shot himself in the foot on the Moira Deeming issue and those who opposed him as leader will be emboldened by the misstep.

On Saturday new Opposition leader John Pesutto was depicted in the media as a sheriff who’d ridden in to clean up Liberal town.

That he was laying down the law in his quest to set the party straight has been his message since he began his bid to expel Moira Deeming.

On Monday, the sheriff may well have signed his own death warrant.

In singling out Deeming for expulsion, Pesutto fired his only bullet and ended up shooting himself in the foot.

John Pesutto may well have signed his own death warrant. Picture: Luis Ascui

Whether the wound is mortal is yet to be seen.

Second chances are rare in politics. They’re rarer in the Liberal Party.

It doesn’t take much to ignite the fuse to set off the ongoing internal factional warfare that relentlessly plagues the party.

Pesutto only won December’s leadership ballot by a single vote. He may have galvanised his support base in the almost four months since.

Furthermore, he’s widely acknowledged as having done an admirable job since taking the reins of the party.

Yet minutes after news leaked that the vote to expel Deeming had been abandoned, even some of his most fervent allies were questioning his future.

The damage done to Pesutto’s authority, and questions around his political judgment, will now plague him for as long as he remains leader.

The vote to expel Moira Deeming was abandoned. Picture: Luis Ascui

He’s gone from a man of impeccable and strident conviction, to someone believed to be pliable to change based purely on political outcome.

Those who opposed him as leader will now be emboldened by this misstep.

Let’s not forget, for a week since announcing he would move to expel Deeming, Pesutto remained resolute.

Her attendance at a Let Women Speak rally on the steps of parliament had exposed links to far-Right extremists, and she had no place in his party, he said.

“There wasn’t really any alternative but to do this, the reason being any question of an association, even indirectly, with Nazis, white supremacists, eco-fascists or whatever else is so odious in 2023 – as it should be – that I can’t see a way back,” he said.

“Under my leadership, we will never have anything to do with it, and more to the point, we will oppose it wherever we see it.”

Some of John Pesutto’s most fervent allies are questioning his future. Picture: Luis Ascui

On Saturday, after a week of opposition to the move Pesutto doubled down.

“The scenes on the steps of parliament last Saturday were an affront to the values we hold dear as Victorians,” he said.

“Nazis have no place in our community and those who share platforms with or associate with extremist groups, including neo-Nazi activists, have no place in the Liberal Party.

“This is not about freedom of speech. There is a range of sensible views that must be heard in relation to issues, including women’s rights.

“But with all rights come responsibilities. We must draw a line at hate speech, discrimination and violence. Freedom of speech should never include hate speech.

“That’s why I’ve acted.”

He fended off pleas from Deeming herself, federal intervention and calls from colleagues to shift his stance.

But at the end of the day, Pesutto couldn’t get enough of his colleagues on board to back a motion to expel Deeming.

Quite simply, they didn’t back their leader.

Most believed that the looming punishment did not fit the crime, and questioned whether the case against Deeming warranted such a serious sanction.

Pesutto insisted the move was about the future of the party and his plans to show it can embrace diversity.

He wants to steer well clear of fringe culture wars in the hope he can broaden the appeal to mainstream Victoria.

That’s all well and good.

Moira Deeming and John Pesutto in happier times. Picture: Facebook

But it fails to recognise that a large part of the party are not convinced that’s the right direction for electoral success.

When Pesutto walked into the party room on Monday morning, he was already doubtful he had the numbers to win an expulsion motion.

During a marathon two-hour meeting, it became clear to him that he would lose.

Such a result would have made his position as leader untenable.

That he could spin that into a compromise, and emerge selling the move as a win for the party and his leadership is admirable.

But it doesn’t truly reflect the position of the party.

It is a party that doesn’t know in which direction it’s headed, its leader being pulled in opposing directions.

Over the past week it has focused solely on itself, arguing over whether or not to expel one of its own.

Meanwhile Daniel Andrews spruiked cheaper V/Line fares, opened a level crossing removal and launched another round of its $250 power saving bonus.

It’s reinforced the view that the Liberal Party is a broken, feuding rabble that has again shown it’s not yet close to being a viable alternative government.

For too many so used to electoral defeat, success has become about internal victories, not forming government.

Winning culture wars is now more important than winning elections.

With the exception of Deeming, there are probably no winners in this.

In the end Pesutto found his hill to die on, but instead he rolled back down it.