The civil war inside the Victorian Liberal Party shows no signs of letting up. The latest skirmish was in the headlines at the weekend after sitting MP Renee Heath attended an event hosted by anti-lockdown and anti-vaccination activist Morgan Jonas, who also happens to be the founder of the Freedom Party of Victoria.
Renee has said she was only there to support her father, Brian Heath, who was speaking at the Rowville event with a rogues’ gallery of fringe politics influencers and conspiracy peddlers.
Upper house MP Renee Heath’s attendance at the Rowville event infuriated Liberal Party colleagues.
United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet and former federal MP Craig Kelly were there too, and warmly received by the audience, which, by the way, seemed to have embraced the “cooker” label used to deride anti-lockdown and conspiracy-minded folks.
Based in Gippsland, Brian is the senior pastor at the City Builders Church – an ultra-conservative Pentecostal outfit, which, as The Age has previously detailed, has attempted to infiltrate conservative politics.
It’s really the last thing Opposition Leader John Pesutto needs before the August 26 Warrandyte byelection, and as he attempts to recover from the messy expulsion of MP Moira Deeming after her attendance at an anti-trans rally gatecrashed by Nazis.
Renee’s attendance at the Rowville event infuriated party colleagues. But if they don’t fancy the prospect of expelling another sitting MP, it might be more clear-cut when it comes to her dad.
Moira Deeming is an independent MP after a vote to kick her out of the Victorian Liberal Party.Credit: Joe Armao
CBD has confirmed that Brian is an office holder on the Liberal Party’s Latrobe Valley State Election Council. He wouldn’t return our calls, and Renee Heath and Liberal HQ declined to comment – even just to confirm the status of his position. Sources say he will be in trouble as soon as the Warrandyte vote is finished.
“There’ll be a motion to expel him and significant pressure on Renee to be expelled too,” one party source suggested.
The party constitution provides grounds for expulsion if found “guilty of disloyalty to the party”. That might include appearing at a political rival’s event where other speakers were laying into Pesutto almost as much as Daniel Andrews.
So, it is possible that both the Heaths soon could be feeling the heat. As the comedian booked to provide light relief at Friday’s event put it: “It’s getting hot in here, must be all the cookers.”
Selling sunset
There are moves afoot at top-end Melbourne realtors RT Edgar, one of the flashest agencies in town. Jeremy Fox and his crew are among the go-to choices for multimillion-dollar listings in the city’s wealthiest streets.
Notable Toorak successes include the $38 million sale of a fire-damaged mansion at 18 St Georges Road in 2017, and offloading a $10 million knockdown next door to billionaire rag trader Solomon Lew’s family last year.
But talk in real estate land is all about a shrinking RT Edgar footprint. Its franchises in Flinders, down on the Mornington Peninsula, and Williamstown both quit the agency last week and are expected to sign up with a different outfit.
Fox confirmed the moves but tells us it’s not unusual in his line of work.
“We’ve picked up two, we lost two, it’s the way the industry works really. Once the agreements expire they can do whatever they want to do,” he said. “Nothing’s predictable in real estate, let’s put it that way.”
Lennon’s house for sale
Speaking of real estate, controversial Melbourne lawyer Pat Lennon’s home is on the market. A one-time counsel to underworld identity Mick Gatto and disgraced champion jockey Danny Nikolic, Lennon has had his own share of legal strife in the past few years.
Police laid charges after finding him in possession of 11 grams of methamphetamine and almost $6000 cash in 2020. He’s fighting those charges, with the matter set for trial later this year.
Pat Lennon pictured in 2016.Credit: Jesse Marlow
The legal industry regulator accused him of misconduct in May over threatening text messages he sent to another lawyer, and was also fighting him in VCAT over its refusal to renew his practising certificate, which expired in June.
The Age has previously revealed that Lennon allegedly made sexual advances towards at least two former female clients who borrowed money from a company owned by his wife Jane. And according to his own lawyer, someone punched and broke Lennon’s jaw outside the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court on Queen Street in November last year.
Inspections for Lennon’s Caulfield North home open this weekend. Real estate agency Gary Peer expects the “grand scale resort style family home” to fetch between $5.2 and $5.7 million.
Featuring four bedrooms, four bathrooms, a tennis court and an indoor-outdoor swimming pool with an automatic roof, the Eyre Road property’s listing calls it a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for lifestyle focused families”.
The Morning Edition newsletter is our guide to the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up here.