Libs fear ‘ambush’ at key vote on saving Pesutto

Fireworks are tipped at Thursday night’s high-stakes meeting of the Victorian Liberal Party’s administrative committee to consider the rescue deal for former leader John Pesutto.

Liberal MP Moira Deeming with campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen. Picture: YouTube

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Some Liberal chiefs voting on the John Pesutto bailout proposal on Thursday night are increasingly frustrated at not being briefed about details of the financial lifeline.

Ahead of the critical meeting, a senior member of the party’s administrative committee said there were concerns among those opposed to the rescue package – believed to be around $1.5m – they will be “ambushed” at the talks.

“From a governance perspective, how can you get the committee to vote on a deal when we still haven’t been briefed on the specifics to allow us to consider it fully,” one member told The Australian.

“This looks like an ambush … and party members are going to go bananas if we just give, or even lend, Pesutto this money.”

Liberal president Phil Davis has not publicly commented about details of the rescue deal to save Mr Pesutto from bankruptcy over his $2.3m court-ordered debt to Liberal MP Moira Deeming, prevent his ousting from parliament and negate a by-election in Hawthorn.

The Australian understands the deal involves the party’s investment arm Vapold Pty Ltd, which is believed to be valued at around $40m, lending Mr Pesutto $1.5m and the former opposition leader contributing another $760,000 to clear the debt.

Asked on Tuesday whether he thought this would be Mr Pesutto’s last week in parliament, Opposition Leader Brad Battin said “No”, suggesting he was confident of a resolution being passed on Thursday.

Mr Pesutto would go no further than to say he was “hopeful” that the matter would be resolved.

“I’m working as hard as I can and I’m hopeful we can come up with a result that resolves the matter,” he said.

Moira Deeming and John Pesutto in 2023. Picture: Facebook

The administrative committee member who fears opponents will be “ambushed” on Thursday night said support for the deal among the governing body was weakening and the vote would be lineball. Last week, the member estimated supporters held a 12-7 majority, but they now believe at least two votes had switched and would no longer back it.

A second administrative committee member told The Australian on Tuesday there was “still a lot of moving parts” to the deal and the result was “still a movable feast” but “as it stands, I can’t see it getting over the line”.

Mrs Deeming successfully sued Mr Pesutto in the Federal Court over allegations he falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser after she helped organise and attended a Let Women Speak rally gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

The Victorian Liberal Party has been engulfed in crisis over the fate of Mr Pesutto for weeks amid frantic talks to try to resolve the issue that has seen Mrs Deeming propose a peace deal that would have deferred most of the legal debt for two years in return for guaranteeing her preselection.

In a log of demands, Mrs Deeming said she had “suffered through a gruelling 2½ years where … every offer … to negotiate settlement was rejected.”

“This is my final attempt to spare the Liberal Party further harm and to afford Mr Pesutto, and his family, the dignity that was denied me, my husband and my children,” she said in the proposal.

The Pesutto camp dismissed the proposal as “not a real deal” and questioned Mrs Deeming’s attempts to use the crisis to lock in her preselection at the 2026 Victorian election.

The party also faces a potential anti-corruption investigation with two complaints being lodged with the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission over the Deeming camp’s attempts to resolve the stand-off.

If the committee rejects the bailout plan, Mr Pesutto has to find $2.3m by June 27.