The former Victorian MP Dutton wants in the Senate but Pesutto can’t abide

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton is facing off against Victorian counterpart John Pesutto as they back opposing candidates to replace senator David Van, whose alleged inappropriate behaviour towards women sparked a workplace probe that remains under wraps six months later.

Dutton pressured Van out of the Liberal Party in June and referred him to parliament’s workplace watchdog after independent senator Lidia Thorpe and former Liberal senator Amanda Stoker made accusations against him.

Van dismissed the claims made about him, saying in June they were “simply not true”.

Elected to the Senate in 2019 on the Liberal ticket, Van now sits on the crossbench. His term expires in 2025.

Federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, left, and his Victorian counterpart John Pesutto are backing different candidates to fill David Van’s spot on the Victorian Coalition Senate ticket.Credit: Joe Armao

But in Sunday’s contest to fill Van’s spot on the Victorian Coalition Senate ticket, Liberal members will be in the dark about the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service probe because the specific allegations against Van and his response to them remain under wraps.

This is despite two sources familiar with the investigation, speaking anonymously to detail the confidential process, confirming the workplace support service informed Van of witnesses’ detailed allegations in August.

The service, which handles cases of alleged misconduct by MPs, had interviewed at least four staffers in its probe, the sources said.

One witness, who also declined to be named, said they had heard nothing from the service for several months and expressed despair about the probe potentially fizzling out.

A spokesperson for the service declined to say whether the investigation’s findings would be released.

“The PWSS’ confidentiality principles apply even when others choose to disclose their involvement … to the media,” they said.

Van referred questions to defamation lawyer Rebekah Giles.

Dutton has thrown his weight behind former federal senator and Victorian Liberal Party president Greg Mirabella to take Van’s spot in the No. 3 position on the Senate ticket, which will be decided in a ballot of grassroots members in Melbourne on Sunday.

Former treasurer Josh Frydenberg and then-prime minister Scott Morrison with Karyn Sobels in 2021.Credit: Paul Jeffers

In a sign of the weakened relationship between Liberals in Canberra and Victoria, Pesutto and his allies are working to block Mirabella’s return to the Senate, instead backing businesswoman Karyn Sobels.

Dutton, who has invested personal authority trying to turn around the ailing Victorian division, has written to Liberal members describing Mirabella as a person he wants to contribute to federal policy on energy, which Mirabella is keenly interested in, and national security.

Dutton said in his six-month stint as a senator before losing his seat last May, Mirabella had “co-ordinated an impressive campaign operation in his patron seats in Melbourne’s west and north, which contributed to strong swings towards the Liberal Party in these areas at the 2022 election”.

“Greg and his can-do attitude would be deeply appreciated back in our federal party room,” Dutton wrote.

In his written endorsement of Sobels, a former ANZ employee and the first female president of the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Pesutto said she would be an important pro-business voice.

“She has the knowledge, skills and capability to make a significant contribution to both policy development and public engagement and I am delighted that a person of her calibre is standing up to represent the party,” Pesutto wrote of Sobels, who chairs Pesutto’s local party branch.

Five senior Victorian Liberal sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, described Mirabella as the frontrunner.

But all urged caution in pre-determining the result, pointing out that Mirabella was facing challenges from Sobels, a moderate, and former Senate candidate Kyle Hoppitt, backed by the religious right.

Snake catcher and former independent candidate for the state seat of Melton, Jarrod Bingham, is the fourth contender.

Another Liberal said many in the centre-right viewed Pesutto’s endorsement of Sobels over Mirabella as punishment for the former state party president refusing to offer the party’s financial assistance to Pesutto in a looming legal battle with Victorian MP Moira Deeming.

A fourth well-connected Liberal said Sobels was the sort of candidate the Victorian arm of the party needed to attract if it were to regain lost ground.

Another Liberal, from the conservative wing of the party, said many in his grouping were still furious with Mirabella for not standing up to the party’s administrative committee when it expelled conservative powerbroker Dr Ivan Stratov.

Cut through the noise of federal politics with news, views and expert analysis from Jacqueline Maley. Subscribers can sign up to our weekly Inside Politics newsletter here.