‘Money can be replaced’: Kennett urges Liberal Party to pay up and save John Pesutto

Former Liberal premier Jeff Kennett has implored his party leadership to pay up and cover John Pesutto’s $2.3 million legal bill as the timeline on Pesutto’s potential bankruptcy closes to three weeks.

The former opposition leader was on Monday given 21 days to pay the costs he owes colleague Moira Deeming after her lawyers filed a bankruptcy notice requiring him to stump up the cash.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett.Credit: Wayne Ludbey

Just a third of the $2.3 million has been raised so far, including $200,000 from online crowdfunding and $500,000 Pesutto has secured privately.

Members of the party’s administrative committee have started discussing a potential bailout for Pesutto, but this is not guaranteed.

In a last-minute intervention, Kennett has written a letter urging them to cover Pesutto’s costs and prevent a byelection that would be triggered by the Hawthorn MP’s bankruptcy.

In the letter, seen by The Age, Kennett says he believes the committee is about to meet and discuss the issue, providing a list of 10 “comments for consideration”.

These include the fact the saga has been detracting from the opposition’s task of holding the government to account and that a possible byelection would be another significant distraction.

Kennett also argues that the comments which Deeming successfully proved were defamatory were made by Pesutto while opposition leader, and that the decision to remove her from the parliamentary party was the result of a vote carried within the party room.

Deeming was voted back into the party room after winning her court case late last year.

“The point I am making is John Pesutto was acting as our agent. In short, the party should bе meeting all his costs,” Kennett’s letter says.

“It is wrong that one of our colleagues should be threatened with bankruptcy for doing their job.

“Yes, the court decided some of his words were inappropriate, in fact, defamatory. But that does not change the principle of our, the party’s, need to back our own.

“This matter can be resolved quickly by the party and its agencies if we pay the outstanding claims on JP.”

John Pesutto faces bankruptcy.Credit: Wayne Taylor

Kennett’s letter says it is wrong to ask Pesutto to foot the bill or become bankrupt, and that it was putting the MP and his family through “sheer hell”.

“As an administrative committee, you are in effect trustees of our brand. I implore you to act decisively. We must put this issue to bed quickly,” he says.

“There are only two questions you need to answer. What is in the best interests of the party?

“What must we do to give ourselves any chance of winning the next state election? Remember, money can always be replaced, a change of government cannot.

“Please put personalities to one side and put the party’s interest front and centre.”

Lawyers for Deeming lodged the bankruptcy notice in the Federal Court on Monday. If Pesutto cannot pay within 21 days and is forced to declare bankruptcy, it would force him out of his marginal seat of Hawthorn under parliamentary rules making him ineligible to continue as an MP.

In a statement, Pesutto said he would do “everything possible” to pay the amount ordered by the court.

“I will continue performing my work as the member for Hawthorn and I reiterate my wish to do so for as long as the people of my electorate will have me,” he said.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin is a member of the administratvie committee but has not said whether he would support a resolution to bail out Pesutto.

“I think it’s pretty obvious we’ve had some tensions in the party at the moment. And I’m continuing to work through that,” Battin said on Friday.

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