Moira Deeming promoted, stoking tensions over Pesutto’s fate

Opposition Leader Brad Battin has named Moira Deeming to a new position as his “representative to the western suburbs”, while her defamation victory threatens to bankrupt former leader and Liberal party room colleague John Pesutto.

Battin made the announcement on Thursday night after four party sources, unable to speak publicly to discuss party matters, told The Age she was being promoted to assistant shadow minister for the western suburbs, angering Pesutto’s supporters in the already strained Liberal team.

Moira Deeming re-enters the party room on December 27 last year.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui

Battin, at 6pm on the eve of the Easter long weekend, said he had appointed her “the Leader’s Representative to the western suburbs”. Under this role, he said she would “champion the voices of locals, ensuring their concerns are heard and acted upon”, and help people in the west meet their potential.

This already forms part of her role as an upper house MP for the Western Metropolitan Region in the Victorian parliament.

But the announcement indicates the state Liberal Party’s seriousness in targeting Labor’s “red wall” at next year’s state election, and indicates Deeming’s importance to Battin.

“Moira Deeming’s new role is about listening to the voices that haven’t been heard by this Labor government and ensuring the western suburbs are given the attention they deserve,” Battin said in a statement.

John Pesutto lost the Liberal Party leadership and faces a multimillion-dollar legal bill after Moira Deeming sued him for defamation.Credit: Eddie Jim

The opposition came close to snatching the seat of Werribee from Labor at the February byelection, when the government’s vote plummeted. Labor’s narrow win, however, came after the Liberal Party was unable to strongly improve its primary vote in the outer-southwest electorate.

Pesutto was ordered to pay Deeming $300,000 in damages, as well as her legal bills, when the Federal Court in December found he repeatedly defamed her by falsely implying she associated with neo-Nazis.

The portion of Deeming’s legal bill that will be paid by Pesutto is still being thrashed out in court, with Deeming’s team seeking almost $2.4 million in fees. That amount, on top of his own costs in defending the case and the damages bill, is expected to push Pesutto to the brink of bankruptcy.

Pesutto’s team has until April 28 to make final submissions before the court rules how much he owes, which could be determined in the dying days of the federal election campaign.

Bankruptcy disqualifies anybody from being a member of parliament. Under this scenario, Pesutto would be forced out and a byelection called for his marginal state seat of Hawthorn.

Pesutto’s supporters, speaking on condition of anonymity, were already outraged before Thursday’s announcement on Deeming.

One speculated Battin was attempting to manage Deeming, whose relationship with the party room remains strained since her return in December, but bury the news on the night before the Easter long weekend.

She was the only Liberal MP to miss a conference for the parliamentary party last month.

A Liberal Party supporter of Deeming, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, described her expected promotion as a commonsense political move to sharpen focus on the west.

Deeming late on Thursday said the west had been taken for granted.

“That’s why I’m so proud to serve under Brad because he’s not focused on election cycles.”

The Age last month revealed that Liberal elders had intervened to try to spare Pesutto from possible bankruptcy and the party further embarrassment.

Those backroom discussions have continued, and a question being considered is whether the Victorian Liberal Party could lend Pesutto the money, or part of the money, to avoid a costly byelection. Another option being considered was crowdfunding support for Pesutto.

NSW property developer Hilton Grugeon helped bankroll Deeming’s legal costs through a personal loan she declared on her register of interests in the Victorian parliament.

One scenario previously pursued was whether Grugeon, a long-time Liberal donor, could forgive Deeming’s debt for the good of the party so that Pesutto could, theoretically, wear less of her costs.

But Grugeon last month revealed to The Age he was not interested in bailing out Pesutto or the party, which he now viewed as a disgrace.

He claimed Deeming was being unfairly pressured to cave after winning the case.

Deeming would not have refunded Grugeon had she lost the case, according to their verbal agreement.

The Cormack Foundation, the Liberal Party’s nominated entity that helps fund its campaigns, had informally knocked back approaches to support Pesutto. Liberal operatives have recently raised that possibility again.

Deeming is expected to face a preselection challenge later this year.

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