What you need to know about the leadership spill against Brad Battin

Brad Battin has lost the leadership of the Victorian Liberals to first-term MP Jess Wilson. Here’s how a leadership spill works.

The Liberals have rolled embattled leader Brad Battin and voted to make Jess Wilson their new leader. But what is a leadership spill, how does it work, and what happens next?

What is a leadership spill?

A leadership spill is the process of declaring the leadership of a political party vacant so that those leadership roles can be challenged.

Spills typically happen when members of the parliamentary party are dissatisfied with the performance of their leader, often triggered by poor opinion polling, factional infighting or a perceived lack of direction.

The spill itself is triggered by the party’s leader, in this case Mr Battin.

This leadership challenge was triggered after a group of MPs from across the Liberal Party’s different factions told Mr Battin that he no longer had the confidence of the party room.

Jess Wilson is expected the challenge Brad Battin for the leadership of the Victorian Liberals.

The spill can involve any of the party’s leadership positions — this includes the leader and deputy leader in both the upper and lower house.

It is expected in the Tuesday spill that as well as Mr Battin’s role, Deputy Leader Sam Groth’s position will also be up for grabs.

The Liberals will hold a party room meeting in parliament, starting at 8.30am, where they will vote to decide the next leader of the party.

A vote will be held and any challengers will have to navigate the Liberal’s moderate and conservative factions to secure enough support.

This is the Liberals’ second end-of-year spill in as many years, after Mr Battin rolled John Pesutto in a post-Christmas leadership challenge last year.

What will happen today?

Firstly, Mr Battin will have to decide whether to yield his position, or defend it against challengers.

Sources told the Herald Sun that they expected him to not to contest.

However, at 8pm on Monday night he emerged from his office and when asked if he believed he had the support of his party, said: “I believe I do.”

He said it was a “ridiculous question” when asked if he might lose the leadership of the party.

Brad Battin said he believed he still had the confidence of his party. Picture: Mark Stewart

But challenger Jess Wilson is quickly emerging as the likely successor to Mr Battin.

The Kew MP is still in her first term in parliament, but has quickly risen to prominence after her promotion from Shadow Education Minister to Shadow Treasurer.

It is understood that despite her limited political experience she is popular within the party, and given her strong performance on the state’s childcare scandal and on prosecuting Victoria’s spiralling debt.

Sources told the Herald Sun that Ms Wilson was not part of the meeting that triggered Tuesday’s spill and had not got “her hands dirty”.

But MPs from the conservative and moderate factions have fallen in behind Ms Wilson in recent weeks, and the first-term MP has been busy making calls to plan her tilt at the leadership.

David Southwick is expected to challenge for Mr Groth’s deputy leadership.

Conservative powerbroker Bev McArthur is set to take the leadership of the Upper House, as part of a deal to secure the conservatives’ support.

Jess Wilson has emerged as Mr Battin’s likely successor. Picture: Aaron Francis

Why is this happening?

This spill was triggered after a group of cross-factional MPs told Mr Battin that he no longer had the confidence of the party room.

Mr Battin has faced increasing frustration from within his party as the Coalition continues to fall behind Labor in the polls, despite the crime crisis, cost-of-living concerns, major project blowouts and record debt.

He has been criticised for lacking messaging on any issues besides crime.

Then after Jacinta Allan announced a sweeping crackdown on youth criminals, leapfrogging any control the Liberal’s held on the issue, anger has reportedly boiled over.

A shadow cabinet reshuffle also angered several MPs who lost out of were shuffled out of their favoured positions.

If Ms Wilson is successful she will become the second youngest Premier in the state’s history.

Ms Wilson is also, according to Labor insiders, the one Liberal MP that the Premier is most concerned about, given her strength on delivering a message on debt and the economy.

The Tuesday morning challenge will set the stage for next year’s state election in November.

Originally published as What you need to know about the leadership spill against Brad Battin