John Pesutto refuses to say whether he will step down if Libs lose Warrandyte by-election
Opposition Leader John Pesutto has refused to say whether he will step aside if the Liberals fail to win the crucial Warrandyte by-election.
Victoria
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Opposition leader John Pesutto has refused to rule out resigning from the top job if the Liberals fail to win the crucial Warrandyte by-election.
Voters in Melbourne’s northeast will head to the polls on August 26, with the Liberal Party hopeful that candidate Nicole Werner will hold the seat.
Speaking to 3AW’s Neil Mitchell on Monday morning, Mr Pesutto refused to say whether he would step down as opposition leader if the Liberals failed to retain the outer suburban electorate.
“Look, let’s just get to Warrandyte, I want to win that for the party and for the people of Warrandyte,” he said.
When probed further, Mr Pesutto said: “I’m not going to address hypotheticals like that.”
“As opposition leader, everyday you have to bring your A-game. It doesn’t matter whether it’s that day or the next day or the previous day.”
It comes as the state opposition prepares to write to Victorian households and businesses to ask them what taxes should be scrapped in order to tackle mounting cost-of-living pressures.
The discussion paper, to be led by shadow Treasurer Brad Rowswell and opposition finance spokeswoman Jess Wilson, will help shape the Coalition’s 2026 election commitments.
“We are asking for feedback from businesses, from Victorians, from families, from stakeholder groups on how we reduce the cost-of-living burden,” he said.
“It’s not getting easier. It’s only going to get worse.
“This has to be a broad sweeping process. We are inviting Victorians to come on this journey with us.
“Our view and the ultimate aim of this discussion paper is to produce the policies that we take to the 2026 election.
“The government is not talking about this. They do this in a piecemeal fashion and they are locked in to higher taxes.
“Our aim will be to take proposals to the next election which will ease the cost-of-living burden, whether it’s taxes, whether it’s power prices or school fees – you name it.
“People are being hit and the government has no intention of taking its finger off the tax button.”
Mr Pesutto announced the measure as he brushed off concerns about a looming court battle with ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming.
Ms Deeming, who is suing the opposition leader for defamation, on Friday issued him a third legal threat, giving him just seven days to accept her demands.
Mr Pesutto on Monday said he wasn’t worried about the potential of losing his house in the legal saga.
“I’m pretty relaxed about all of it. It’s just not on my mind. We’ve got bigger issues to focus on,” he said.
Asked if he would be indemnified by the Liberal Party, Mr Pesutto said: “I don’t know the answer to that question and we’ll explore that a bit further, but either way I can assure our listeners there will be no taxpayer dollars, unlike the Andrews government who regularly dips into public coffers for legal matters.”
“All of this is just sitting with my lawyers and I’ll take their guidance on what I should or shouldn’t do,” he added.
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