Wilson, Battin to challenge for Liberal leadership, as crucial vote to be put to MPs

The challenge for the Victorian Liberal leadership will be a three-cornered contest after former John Pesutto ally Jess Wilson threw her hat in the ring at the eleventh hour.

Shadow police minister Brad Battin called the current opposition leader on Thursday morning to confirm he would challenge him at a party room meeting on Friday. Wilson, a first-term and well-respected MP, said she would run against Battin because a unity deal to secure her as deputy leader had been struck off the table.

John Pesutto (centre) is set to face two challengers in Friday’s leadership vote: Jess Wilson and Brad Battin.Credit:

In a statement released on Thursday, Wilson said that if the spill motion were supported, she would run for the leadership position.

“I’m a proud Melburnian. I’m a proud Victorian. But it breaks my heart to see our city and our state struggling under the weight of an incompetent Labor government that has trashed our economy and made it harder for families to get ahead.

“The best way forward to defeat Jacinta Allan and Labor was with a unified leadership ticket.
Unfortunately, it has been made clear to me today that a unity ticket is no longer on the table. Given that and after consulting my colleagues, I’ve decided to stand to offer them a choice.”

If the party room votes in favour of a spill, Pesutto will stand down as leader, a post he has held for two years. The MPs will then vote on either Wilson or Battin for the top job.

Battin, a former police officer and bakery owner, is planning to challenge for leadership with former tennis player Sam Groth as his deputy. By Thursday afternoon, Battin’s supporters tallied 16 votes in their favour, though that was before Wilson said she would challenge.

Under pressure: Opposition Leader John Pesutto.Credit: Eddie Jim

Battin was one of five rebel MPs who signed a petition to recall the party for Friday’s meeting, ostensibly to vote – again – on whether ousted MP Moira Deeming would be allowed back into the party room. Signatories also included Brighton MP James Newbury, housing spokesman Richard Riordan, Groth and opposition spokesperson for industry Bridget Vallence. It was widely expected Friday’s meeting would also include a spill motion, but until Thursday morning that was not official.

An email from Pesutto to the party on Tuesday informing his colleagues he would allow members to vote remotely prompted speculation that absent MPs Nick McGowan and Cindy McLeish, who are overseas on holidays, would provide crucial votes to prevent the spill.

Newbury publicly accused the opposition leader of breaching the party constitution, leading to intervention from state Liberal director Stuart Smith.

“It is clear that a holiday does not make it ‘impossible’ for a member to return for the meeting,” Newbury wrote.

Smith’s intervention will mean three votes are due to be put to the party room on Friday: whether the absent MPs can vote remotely; if exiled MP Moira Deeming should be readmitted to the party room; and a challenge to the leadership.

If Deeming is readmitted to the party, there is nothing to stop her from entering the meeting and casting her vote on the leadership challenge.

Those supporting Jess Wilson are confident they could win a majority, but said it depended on whether remote voting will be allowed. One MP in Wilson’s camp said on Thursday: “The only thing stopping our colleagues overseas having their say is Brad Battin’s fear they won’t vote for him.”

Wilson was initially floated for the deputy position in a unity deal between conservatives and moderates but was sidelined in favour of Groth.

That would leave Wilson – a moderate considered a strong performer even by Labor ministers – without a high-level portfolio.

Pesutto, the party’s most popular leader in recent history, has scrambled to prevent a spill since losing his defamation case against exiled Deeming. His backers include deputy leader David Southwick, health spokesperson Georgie Crozier and shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien.

Three MPs said Battin was seeking to have a frontbench evenly split between male and female colleagues. Currently, seven of the party’s 23 frontbenchers are women.

Battin was first elected to parliament in 2010 as the member for Berwick, in Melbourne’s growing outer south-east.

One former MP described him as rash, but said he was “pretty smart, fairly affable and engaged well with his community”.

Battin’s challenge on Friday will mark his third attempt to secure the leadership position. He mounted an unsuccessful coup against then-leader Michael O’Brien in 2021, and narrowly lost out to Pesutto in 2022 following Matthew Guy’s resignation.

It will be the second time this month a vote on Deeming’s membership has been put to the party room. A deadlocked vote on whether she should return was knocked down last Friday after Pesutto used his casting vote, prompting his political allies and opponents to urge the leader to step down.

Pesutto had originally called a party meeting for January 15, in a last-ditch effort to save his job by making a shock concession and agreeing to readmit Deeming.

A group of rebel MPs then moved to bring the meeting forward to Friday, leading to speculation that Battin had the majority of party room support to call a leadership spill. Battin did not formally confirm he would challenge Pesutto until a phone call on Thursday morning.

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