Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto blames a busy schedule for pulling out of ABC’s Q+A

The Victorian Liberal leader was scheduled to appear on Monday night’s Q+A program but five hours after it was announced he cancelled his plans.

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto on the ABC's 7.30 program on March 27. Source: Twitter

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has defended his decision to pull out of his debut appearance on ABC’s political chatfest program, Q+A, saying he had more important issues to address.

Mr Pesutto has been on a media blitz in recent weeks, appearing on many networks including ABC’s 7.30, 3AW, Sky News Australia and Nine’s Today to discuss the controversy involving Liberal MP Moira Deeming’s attendance at a women’s right rally in Melbourne.

On Friday, just five hours after the ABC’s official Q+A account announced Mr Pesutto’s scheduled attendance for Monday’s show, it tweeted: “John Pesutto has pulled out of his scheduled appearance”.

The Liberal leader’s withdrawal came just hours before the by-election in Aston, which resulted in a devastating loss for the Liberal party.

Many within the party believe Mr Pesutto should bear some of the blame for the loss due to his handling of the Deeming matter, which dominated headlines in the days leading up to the by-election.

Mr Pesutto said at a press conference on Sunday that he had other things to focus on instead of appearing on the ABC program.

“I do hope that I will be able to participate in Q+A in the future, but for us we have got priorities that we want to focus on such as cost of living, the upcoming budget and particularly Victoria’s housing crisis,” he said.

Pesutto, who has led the Victorian Liberals for just four months since their election loss, has been replaced as a panellist on Q+A by Victorian Liberal party president Greg Mirabella.

One senior Victorian Liberal, who did not wish to be named, criticised Mr Pesutto’s recent publicity strategy and said his “media blitz before and after Deeming’s fateful expulsion thought bubble exercise has been a disaster”.

Another Liberal said: “It would have been better if he shut up two weeks ago.”