John Pesutto vows to stick with top job despite high-stakes defamation battle

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto says he will not give up the top job as long as there’s “breath in his lungs”, despite a gruelling high-stakes defamation battle with exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

A defiant John Pesutto says he will not give up the top job as long as there’s ‘breath in his lungs’.

Four gruelling days in the witness box was never going to be enough to make Mr Pesutto quit, nor will more talk of a potential leadership challenge, he says.

“I’m a very resilient person and persistent.”

“These are just challenges you have to cross.”

In his first exclusive interview since taking the stand in the Federal Court during his high-stakes defamation battle with exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming, Mr Pesutto says there was no way he was giving up now that the Coalition could see a “pathway to victory”.

Despite some senior party figures describing his leadership as untenable, the Liberal leader claims that he hasn’t heard a single word from his colleagues about possible challengers.

“If someone wants to talk to me … my doors always open,” he says.

John Pesutto says his wife Betty has been a tower of strength. Picture: Mark Stewart

Speaking at his home in Melbourne’s leafy inner east alongside his wife Betty – who stood by his side almost every day in court – Mr Pesutto said the three-week trial had pulled his tight-knit family closer together.

“As a family, we’ve bonded,” he said.

“And Betty’s been a tower of strength and been really resilient.

“It just made a huge difference to me, personally, that she was there and we were there together.”

As for Mr Pesutto’s three daughters, in their teens and early 20s, Mr Pesutto said “they’ve been watching closely … to see how their dad’s doing”.

“I’ve got to say they’re just glad it’s over and they can see more of me,” he says.

The Liberal Leader was grilled for four days in the witness box, trading barbs with leading defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, over his decision to boot Mrs Deeming from the party room after neo-Nazis gatecrashed a protest she had helped organise.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s a lot of fun being cross-examined over four days, but it was important to do,” he said.

“The leadership team turned up and answered questions for as long as we were required to.”

Mr Pesutto and his wife Betty arriving at court.. Picture: David Crosling

Mr Pesutto, reflecting on his brutal loss live on air during the 2018 “Danslide” election, stopped short of calling his week on trial the hardest of his political career.

“When people ask me about what happened, you know, on that night in 2018 or sitting through four days of cross examination, for me, they’re just challenges,” he says.

In 2022, a determined Mr Pesutto clawed his way back into politics before a reshuffle saw him land the leadership.

Mr Pesutto said growing up in a migrant household taught him to become a survivor.

“That’s a story I grew up with, and the sense that you just have to keep going,” he said.

“As long as you’ve got breath in your lungs and your heart is beating, you just keep going.

“And no matter what happens, you don’t stop.”

“So I will face any challenge … whether it’s what happened in 2018 or sitting through four days of cross examination.”

The Liberal Leader has spent the back half of the week fending off questions about a potential reshuffle of his leadership team.

And has staunchly defended his deputy David Southwick who was forced to admit to the court this week that he had taken a secret recording of a key leadership meeting at the centre of the case.

Mr Pesutto has vowed to continue as Liberal leader. Picture: Mark Stewart

Frontbenchers Richard Riordan and David Hodgett who sided with Mrs Deeming during the trial, giving evidence against the party leader, would not be penalised, Mr Pesutto says.

He denies that anyone will be dumped from the shadow cabinet.

As for his supporters, including rank-and-file Liberal members, the MP believes they still back him as leader, claiming the case had no impact “at all” on a “growing sense of optimism within the party”.

“I think people are realistic and sensible in the party and understand it had to be dealt with,” he said.

His message to his supporters, particularly the rusted on Liberals who may be losing faith, is that “there’s a pathway to victory”.

Recent polling has provided a light at the end of the tunnel for Mr Pesutto and his team, with the Coalition and Labor tied 50-50 on a two-party preferred basis.

“We can now see a pathway to winning government,” he says.

“No one can dispute that the government’s support has tanked because it doesn’t have the answers.”

But Liberal Party sources appeared divided over his future, with some suggesting the trial had poured fuel on the fire, while others gave Mr Pesutto hope.

“No one is happy with what’s happened,” one senior source said.

“He overreacted terribly and he would have little support among donors and party members.”

Another Liberal member, however, said he was a “firm believer” that Mr Pesutto would hang on to the leadership.

“JP is going nowhere,” he said.