Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto’s leadership on knife edge

John Pesutto’s future as Victorian Liberal leader is increasingly grim after his partyroom split down the middle over ousted Victorian independent MP Moira Deeming.

Victorian Liberal Party leader John Pesutto on Friday. Picture: Wayne Taylor

John Pesutto’s future as Victorian Liberal leader is increasingly grim after his partyroom split down the middle over ousted Victorian independent MP Moira Deeming, sparking discreet moves to cast for a replacement for him early in the new year.

Cross-factional discussions are under way to find a possible new leader after the partyroom divided over a motion designed to get Ms Deeming back into the fold after a near two-year battle over a women’s rights rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

The Liberal leader was accused by stunned opponents of voting twice to overturn a 14-14 tied result on the Deeming motion amid acrimony over party rules that created confusion over whether the majority number was 15 or 16.

Mr Pesutto said while he used his casting ballot to vote the motion down, it was ultimately unnecessary because the advice to the room was that “an absolute majority of 16 was required”.

But the internal rumblings have built after the tight result, with speculation that Mr Pesutto will face another partyroom vote early next year, with both dominant groupings now discussing alternative candidates.

One option being mooted is to engineer a leadership ballot between former Josh Frydenberg staffer Jess Wilson – a notional Pesutto backer – and aspirant and Deeming motion supporter Brad Battin.

The loser of the battle would be offered the deputy leadership, under a compromise deal designed to heal the party, but it is only one of several options.

Mr Pesutto said Friday’s vote concluded the matter of Ms Deeming’s readmission into the partyroom. “This marks a book end to this issue,” he claimed.

When asked what was stopping his colleagues from holding a leadership spill against him, Mr Pesutto said: “Every day I work hard on behalf of the Victorian people and I have to earn the trust and confidence of my colleagues in my party every day in this job.”

But Ms Deeming blasted Mr Pesutto and said it was “only a matter of time” before she returned to the partyroom.

Moira Deeming. Picture: David Crosling

“As someone who was duly elected to serve in the Liberal parliamentary partyroom, I am deeply disappointed by the decision by some Liberals today to continue to keep me out despite a Federal Court judge ruling that the basis for my expulsion was a lie sold to them by the Opposition Leader,” she said in a statement.

Ms Deeming said Mr Pesutto had used his casting vote to prevent her readmission, “thereby ­effectively voting twice”, despite him having a “significant personal conflict of interest” in the outcome.

Ms Deeming’s backers had believed on Thursday the group had at least 12 votes with a further five in the balance; there were two MPs absent from the vote of 28, with support likely to have split between the two people.

“Things are unfolding rapidly,’’ a senior MP told The Weekend Australian. “The next time we get together things will happen. We’ve had a gutful.’’

Another MP said: “He’s got two months.’’

Rusted-on Pesutto supporters believe he can survive in the leadership if the Liberals perform strongly at two by-elections early next year.

However, multiple sources said Mr Pesutto faced the difficulty that the row with Ms Deeming would now bleed into 2025 – a federal election year.

Liberal MP Bill Tilley, who helped engineer Friday’s vote, said he still wanted Ms Deeming to return to the fold. “He used his casting vote,” Mr Tilley said.

When asked whether he wanted Ms Deeming in the party, he said: “I live in hope.”

The Pesutto opponents lined up to smash their leader, who ­conducted a truncated press conference outside his Parliament House office.

Upper House MP Bev McArthur said Ms Deeming’s return failed because Mr Pesutto cast his vote against the motion.

“That’s disappointing,” she said. “I called for John to apologise last week after the judgment, to actually convene the partyroom himself and to move the motion himself. He chose not to do that.”

Former prime minister Tony Abbott labelled as shameful the partyroom’s decision not to readmit Moira Deeming.

“How can someone elected as a Liberal be expelled on the basis of a lie and not be readmitted once the truth is there for all to see?” Mr Abbott wrote on X.

“Especially right before Christmas, the season of goodwill, this is a truly contemptible failure to act with honour and decency.”

As he was about to enter the partyroom meeting ahead of the vote, respected MP David Hodgett said while there was probably a pathway for Ms Deeming to rejoin the party room, the vote had been brought about in “completely the wrong way”.

“I think by doing it this way they’ve probably done Moira a disservice,” he said.

Mr Pesutto confirmed that he would not be appealing the Federal Court defamation judgment that could leave him millions of dollars in the red. He has also said he did not expect the party to fund his costs, which Liberal elders fear could ultimately cost him millions, depending on final deliberations.

Ms Deeming was initially awarded $300,000 in damages in a five-nil ruling that deeply embarrassed Mr Pesutto, and that number was slightly increased.