How Brad Battin's leadership of the Victorian Liberal Party unravelled

Brad Battin’s leadership initially promised a new era for the Victorian Liberal Party after the removal of John Pesutto but under his leadership party unity has instead been crushed.

The expected leadership spill against Opposition Leader Brad Battin follows a devastating 11 months for the Victorian Liberal Party.

Under Mr Battin’s leadership, the Coalition’s lead in the polls eroded, its edge over Labor on crime was lost and party unity was crushed by a burgeoning legal civil war that now threatens to crush any chance of an effective campaign in next year’s election.

Mr Battin’s leadership was meant to close a divisive chapter in the party’s history. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Mr Battin’s leadership initially promised a new era for the party, with the removal of John Pesutto on December 27, aimed at closing a divisive chapter in the party’s history.

The Federal Court had ruled Mr Pesutto defamed exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming by suggesting she associated with neo-Nazis, making his leadership untenable.

The Coalition had also just passed Labor in the polls for the first time in more than seven years.

The party’s fortunes appeared even more favourable in light of Labor’s inability to reduce spiralling youth crime rates at a time where Queensland’s LNP had secured victory in its state election by promising hard line sentencing reforms designed to tackle its own youth crime crisis.

By February, Mr Battin’s leadership appeared even stronger.

Mr Battin appeared unstoppable following the February by-election. Picture: Tony Gough

Two by-elections held across Prahran and Werribee resulted in a huge swing toward the Liberals, who unseated the Greens in Prahran, and only narrowly lost Werribee with a sizeable swing against the government.

But a failure to show integrity in March marked the beginning of the end for his honeymoon period.

After telling his shadow cabinet he had to miss a week of parliament during a major flashpoint in the state’s crime crisis to visit cyclone affected family members, the Herald Sun revealed he was actually on a four night luxury cruise.

CruiseGate saw Mr Battin face widespread criticism from his own colleagues, but it was his subsequent failure to stop old wounds from reopening that accelerated his downfall.

Moira Deeming and John Pesutto’s court battle continued to plague the party. Picture: Supplied.

Former leader Mr Pesutto still owed Mrs Deeming between $1.8 – $2m, and a failure to pay would force him to declare bankruptcy, which in turn would make him ineligible to sit in parliament and trigger a costly and embarrassing election.

On May 15, Mr Pesutto officially asked his colleagues to consider lending him the money from the party’s investment arm, a move that left Deeming and her supporters outraged.

Two weeks ladder, Mr Battin’s deputy Sam Groth became embroiled in an expenses scandal after it was revealed he and his wife shelled out thousands in taxpayers’ money to stay at luxury hotels after major events like the Australian Open and AFL Grand Final.

John Pesutto arrives at Liberal Party headquarters on June 19 to plead for a loan. Picture: Nadir Kinani

A month later, executives from the Liberal Party’s Victorian branch administrative committee, including Mr Battin, assembled at party headquarters to hear Mr Pesutto’s pitch for a loan. They voted to approve it, leaving Mrs Deeming and her supporters outraged, and stoking further division in the party. Mrs Deeming took to social media the following day to declare her party had failed to protect her when she was attacked”, “punished her for defending herself”, “financially profited off her trauma”, and falsely claimed they had done her a “favour”.

A post on X by Moira Deeming following the Victorian Liberal Party's decision to financially bailout John Pesutto. Picture: X

Administrative committee member Colleen Harkin immediately launched a challenge in the supreme court with the intention of blocking the loan, dragging Mr Battin into a legal civil war by limiting him and his allies as defendants.

On June 30, the damage caused by infighting were obvious.

Redbridge polling found support for Labor had surged past the coalition for the first time since October. A separate Newspoll survey confirmed the result showing Labor had 53% of the two party preferred vote while the Coalition fell to 47%.

With rumblings of a spill beginning to emerge, Mr Battin reshuffled his shadow cabinet on October 11 in a move that was designed to appease his critics, but could possibly have proved terminal, with the reshuffle alienating key backers such as shadow treasurer James Newbury.

The downfall accelerated in the first half of November, with final mediation efforts failing to prevent the legal challenge from going to trial in March, meaning a Liberal Party civil war in the Supreme Court is all but certain to derail the 2026 election campaign.

When Premier Jacinta Allan finally capitulated on sentencing reforms by announcing ‘adult crime adult time’ legislation on November 12, she effectively eliminated the opposition’s edge over Labor on crime.

Jacinta Allan’s announcement of sentencing reform immediately derailed the Coalition’s “tough on crime” edge over Labor. Picture: Supplied.

Over the following week, discussions between different factions by a cross section of MPs from the centrist, moderate and conservative groupings came to a head on Tuesday, when Brad Battin was informed his leadership no longer had the support of the majority and would be challenged in a spill the following morning by treasury spokeswoman Jess Wilson.