Labor MP Danny Pearson labels John Pesutto a ‘shouty little man’ in fiery rant

Senior Labor MP Danny Pearson has gone on a tirade against Opposition Leader John Pesutto, blasting him as “irrelevant” and a “shouty little man”.

Danny Pearson MP has gone on a personal rant against Opposition Leader John Pesutto. Picture: NewsWire / Nicki Connolly

A senior Allan government minister has taken a personal swipe at opposition leader John Pesutto, describing him as a “shouty little man” who is “completely irrelevant”.

In a fiery rant about the opposition’s staged walk out in parliament, minister Danny Pearson on Friday repeatedly ripped into Mr Pesutto’s height, labelling the Liberal leader “little Johnny”.

“This was a pathetic little stunt by a shouting little man,” he said.

“No one is paying attention to this bloke.”

Mr Pearson noted that he had watched Coalition MPs “traipse into the party room before question time (and) all receive their orders from little Johnny”.

The personal and the political have overlapped in Mr Pearson’s rant against Opposition Leader John Pesutto. Picture: NCA Newswire / Nicki Connolly

Opposition MPs have walked out of Question Time early after accusing Premier Jacinta Allan of not answering their questions about the CFMEU scandal. #springstpic.twitter.com/YJbjWhDRVI

— Mitch Clarke (@96mitchclarke) August 1, 2024

The MP for Essendon, who holds a series of portfolios including transport infrastructure, labelled Thursday’s walk out a “pathetic and juvenile” stunt that was “absolute nonsense”.

“We’re not paying attention to him, the Speaker’s not paying attention to him,” he said.

The minister also took aim at Liberal backbenchers, accusing them of spending Question Time ignoring their leader and playing games on their phones.

“What is really most concerning to him is that his backbench aren’t paying attention at all,” he said.

“If you had watched his backbench this week… a number of Liberal Party backbenchers would have gotten top scores on Candy Crush.”

“No one is listening to him, he is completely irrelevant.”

He said the opposition leader would leave parliament like he left the chamber on Thursday with his “shoulders slumped”.

Asked whether it was appropriate to discriminate against Mr Pesutto because of his height, Mr Pearson then claimed he was referring to his “policy vision and aspirations”.

“He’s small minded,” he said.

“He’s not a grand visionary.

“He’ll be the not quite right version of Dick Hamer.”

Mr Pearson, however, conceded that he was also referring to his height.

“Yes he’s of small stature,” he said.

It is not the first time a Labor minister has attacked Mr Pesutto for his height, with former premier Daniel Andrews remarking in parliament last year that “we should give him a little box to stand on”.

Deputy Liberal Leader David Southwick hit back on Friday afternoon, calling Mr Pearson “a bully”.

“This is schoolyard politics,” he said.

“(This) is the very thing we are trying to stop in Victoria. We talk about bullying, we talk about violence... and here you’ve got a minister going out and being a bully.”

Mr Southwick said the parliament had turned into “a circus” because the Premier was refusing to answer questions.

“I would hope that the Premier and the Speaker would actually consider answering questions,” he said.

“We don’t want to walk out. We want to be here.”