'Smell the roses': $1.5m Liberal loan to end legal saga
A $1.5 million loan has been granted to former state Liberal leader John Pesutto, with the fractured party desperate to draw a line under a long-running defamation saga.
The Victorian Liberals' administrative committee met on Thursday night and agreed to lend former leader John Pesutto $1.55 million to settle his debt to first-term MP Moira Deeming.
The Hawthorn MP was ordered to pay $2.3 million in legal costs to Mrs Deeming after the Federal Court found he defamed her by implying she was associated with neo-Nazis.
It left him facing bankruptcy, which would have triggered his exit from parliament and a subsequent by-election in his marginal seat, unless the debt was paid back in a matter of weeks.
Mr Pesutto, who has already coughed up $315,000 in damages, had only raised about $750,000 through wealthy backers and a GoFundMe campaign.
An offer to defer some of the legal bill in exchange for Mrs Deeming's guaranteed preselection and Mr Pesutto swearing off trying to return as leader for three years was rebuffed.
In a letter to party members on late on Thursday, Victorian Liberal president Philip Davis said the money would be paid directly to Mrs Deeming.
Mr Pesutto will be required to repay the loan at market-rate interest.
Mr Davis said the deal would avert a by-election and allow the Liberals' parliamentary party to focus the issues that matter to the Victorian community.
"Settling this matter once and for all is in the interests of the party as it will see an end to the ongoing commentary that is letting Labor get away with their appalling performance," he wrote.
"Victorians needs a change of government."
Entering parliament on Thursday morning, Mr Pesutto was upbeat about the committee agreeing to his loan request.
"Tonight's an opportunity to square (the issue) off and put it all behind us," he said.
Mrs Deeming, who was expelled from the party room before being welcomed back in December, was sceptical it would end the infighting that has engulfed the party since March 2023.
"I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me," the upper house MP said.
Mrs Deeming said the party could "do what they like" but she would take any support of Mr Pesutto as a "direct rebukement (sic)" of the court judgement.
Opposition Leader Brad Battin attended Thursday night's meeting but would not reveal to reporters how he planned to vote.
Mr Battin urged Mrs Deeming and Mr Pesutto to "smell the roses" if either woke up on Friday morning unhappy with the outcome.
Time is running out for Mr Battin to unite the Liberals before the next state election in November 2026.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
West Australian
an hour ago
- West Australian
Michelle Grattan: Key tests looming for Opposition leader Sussan Ley
On Wednesday, Opposition Leader Sussan Ley will front the National Press Club. So why is that a big deal? For one thing, her predecessor Peter Dutton never appeared there as Opposition leader. For another, it's a formidable forum for a new leader. It could all go badly wrong, but she's right to make the early appearance. It sends a message she is not risk-averse. Ley wants to establish a better relationship with the Canberra Press Gallery than Dutton had. He saw the gallery journalists as part of the despised 'Canberra bubble' and bypassed them when he could. That didn't serve him well — not least because he wasn't toughened up for when he had to face daily news conferences (with many Canberra reporters) on the election trail. Ley's office has set up a WhatsApp group for gallery journalists, alerting them to who's appearing in the media, and also dispatching short responses to things said by the Government (such as links to ministers' former statements). This matches the WhatsApp group for the gallery run by the Prime Minister's Office. One of Ley's press secretaries, Liam Jones, has also regularly been doing the rounds in the media corridors of Parliament House, something that very rarely happened with Dutton's media staff. To the extent anyone is paying attention, Ley has made a better start than many, including some Liberals, had expected. She came out of the tiff with the Nationals well, despite having to give ground on their policy demands. Her frontbench reshuffle had flaws but wasn't terrible. She's struck a reasonable, rather than shrill, tone in her comments on issues, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's failure thus far to get a meeting with US President Donald Trump. Her next significant test will be how she handles at the Press Club questions she and her party are confronting. So here are a few for her. One (the most fundamental): How is she going to thread the needle between the two sides of the Liberal Party? John Howard's old 'broad church' answer no longer holds. The church is fractured. In an era of identity politics, the Liberals have a massive identity crisis. The party's conservatives are hard line, have hold of its (narrow) base, and will undermine Ley if they can. Its moderates will struggle to shape key policies in a way that will appeal to urban small-l liberal voters. Two: How and when will she deal with the future of the Coalition's commitment to net zero emissions by 2050? She has put all policies on the table (but made exceptions for several Nationals' core policies). There is a strong case for her staking out her own position on net zero, and getting the policy settled sooner rather than later. With younger voters having eschewed the Liberals, Ley told The Daily Aus podcast this week,'I want young people to know first and foremost that I want to listen to them and meet them where they are'. One place they are is in support of net zero by 2050. If the Liberals deserted that, they'd be making the challenge of attracting more youth votes a herculean one. For the Opposition net zero is likely THE climate debate of this term — and such debates are at best difficult and at worst lethal for Liberal leaders. Three: Won't it be near impossible for the Liberals to get a respectable proportion of women in its House of Representatives team without quotas? Over the years, Ley has been equivocal on the issue. She told The Daily Aus: 'Each of our (Liberal State) divisions is responsible for its own world, if you like, when it comes to (candidate) selections'. This is unlikely to cut it: she needs to have a view, and a strategy. Targets haven't worked. Four: Ley says she wants to run a constructive Opposition, so how constructive will it be in the tax debate Treasurer Jim Chalmers launched this week? Ley might have a chat with Howard about the 1980s, when the Liberals had internal arguments about whether to support or oppose some of the Hawke government's reform measures. Obviously, no total buy-in should be expected but to oppose reforms for the sake of it would discredit a party trying to sell its economic credentials. More generally, how constructive or obstructive will the Opposition be in the Senate? This raises matters of principle, not just political opportunism. In the new Senate the Government will have to negotiate with either the Opposition or the Greens. If the Opposition constantly forces Labor into the arms of the Greens, that could produce legislation that (from the Liberals' point of view) is worse than if the Liberals were Labor's partner. How does that sit with them philosophically? Five: Finally, how active will Ley be in trying to drive improvements in the appalling Liberal State organisations, especially in NSW (her home State) and Victoria? The Liberals' Federal executive extended Federal intervention in the NSW division this week, with a new oversight committee, headed by onetime premier Nick Greiner. But the announcement spurred immediate factional backbiting. Ley is well across the NSW factions: her numbers man is Alex Hawke — whom she elevated to the shadow cabinet — from Scott Morrison's old centre-right faction. In Victoria, the factional infighting has been beyond parody, with former leader John Pesutto scratching around for funds to avoid bankruptcy after losing a defamation case brought by colleague Moira Deeming. That's just the start of the questions for Ley. Meanwhile, the party this week has set up an inquiry into the election disaster, to be conducted by former Federal minister Nick Minchin and former NSW minister Pru Goward. Identifying what went wrong won't be hard for them — mostly, it was blindingly obvious. Recommending solutions that the party can and will implement — that will be the difficult bit.
The Advertiser
9 hours ago
- The Advertiser
Secret's out: premier's ex-partner misled watchdog
Findings that Daryl Maguire misled a corruption probe about a $48 million property development sale can be revealed after the ex-Liberal MP lost a bid to suppress them. The former member for Wagga Wagga, whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian led to her political downfall, appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre Courthouse for the verdict on Friday. Magistrate Clare Farnan ruled that Maguire misled the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption while giving evidence during a hearing in July 2018. Immediately after handing down her decision, Maguire applied to suppress the finding. His barrister argued publicity about his guilt would prejudice a jury in an upcoming trial over an alleged visa fraud conspiracy expected to commence in September. The bid was opposed by the ABC and Nine but backed by federal prosecutors. Ms Farnan rejected Maguire's application. "The interests of the community in open justice is in my view not outweighed by Mr Maguire's interests," the magistrate said. The magistrate's reasons for determining Maguire's guilt are not yet clear after media and the former MP himself were caught in an administrative mix-up. Another court official on Friday adjourned the case to October only for the magistrate on another level to hand down her decision, without media present. At ICAC, Maguire was asked about what he expected to get out of the sale of an estimated $48 million property development in Campsie in Sydney's southwest. During the criminal hearing earlier in 2025, prosecutors claimed Maguire changed his evidence during questioning over claims he was not expected to be reimbursed. He will face a sentence hearing on August 15. ICAC grilled Maguire and others in 2018 under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local council. The Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the Berejiklian government after giving evidence, before succumbing to pressure and quitting parliament altogether. ICAC opened a further probe into Maguire, exposing his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian in 2020. She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship, spanning at least five years while she was transport minister, treasurer and then premier. Findings that Daryl Maguire misled a corruption probe about a $48 million property development sale can be revealed after the ex-Liberal MP lost a bid to suppress them. The former member for Wagga Wagga, whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian led to her political downfall, appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre Courthouse for the verdict on Friday. Magistrate Clare Farnan ruled that Maguire misled the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption while giving evidence during a hearing in July 2018. Immediately after handing down her decision, Maguire applied to suppress the finding. His barrister argued publicity about his guilt would prejudice a jury in an upcoming trial over an alleged visa fraud conspiracy expected to commence in September. The bid was opposed by the ABC and Nine but backed by federal prosecutors. Ms Farnan rejected Maguire's application. "The interests of the community in open justice is in my view not outweighed by Mr Maguire's interests," the magistrate said. The magistrate's reasons for determining Maguire's guilt are not yet clear after media and the former MP himself were caught in an administrative mix-up. Another court official on Friday adjourned the case to October only for the magistrate on another level to hand down her decision, without media present. At ICAC, Maguire was asked about what he expected to get out of the sale of an estimated $48 million property development in Campsie in Sydney's southwest. During the criminal hearing earlier in 2025, prosecutors claimed Maguire changed his evidence during questioning over claims he was not expected to be reimbursed. He will face a sentence hearing on August 15. ICAC grilled Maguire and others in 2018 under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local council. The Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the Berejiklian government after giving evidence, before succumbing to pressure and quitting parliament altogether. ICAC opened a further probe into Maguire, exposing his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian in 2020. She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship, spanning at least five years while she was transport minister, treasurer and then premier. Findings that Daryl Maguire misled a corruption probe about a $48 million property development sale can be revealed after the ex-Liberal MP lost a bid to suppress them. The former member for Wagga Wagga, whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian led to her political downfall, appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre Courthouse for the verdict on Friday. Magistrate Clare Farnan ruled that Maguire misled the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption while giving evidence during a hearing in July 2018. Immediately after handing down her decision, Maguire applied to suppress the finding. His barrister argued publicity about his guilt would prejudice a jury in an upcoming trial over an alleged visa fraud conspiracy expected to commence in September. The bid was opposed by the ABC and Nine but backed by federal prosecutors. Ms Farnan rejected Maguire's application. "The interests of the community in open justice is in my view not outweighed by Mr Maguire's interests," the magistrate said. The magistrate's reasons for determining Maguire's guilt are not yet clear after media and the former MP himself were caught in an administrative mix-up. Another court official on Friday adjourned the case to October only for the magistrate on another level to hand down her decision, without media present. At ICAC, Maguire was asked about what he expected to get out of the sale of an estimated $48 million property development in Campsie in Sydney's southwest. During the criminal hearing earlier in 2025, prosecutors claimed Maguire changed his evidence during questioning over claims he was not expected to be reimbursed. He will face a sentence hearing on August 15. ICAC grilled Maguire and others in 2018 under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local council. The Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the Berejiklian government after giving evidence, before succumbing to pressure and quitting parliament altogether. ICAC opened a further probe into Maguire, exposing his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian in 2020. She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship, spanning at least five years while she was transport minister, treasurer and then premier. Findings that Daryl Maguire misled a corruption probe about a $48 million property development sale can be revealed after the ex-Liberal MP lost a bid to suppress them. The former member for Wagga Wagga, whose clandestine relationship with ex-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian led to her political downfall, appeared at Sydney's Downing Centre Courthouse for the verdict on Friday. Magistrate Clare Farnan ruled that Maguire misled the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption while giving evidence during a hearing in July 2018. Immediately after handing down her decision, Maguire applied to suppress the finding. His barrister argued publicity about his guilt would prejudice a jury in an upcoming trial over an alleged visa fraud conspiracy expected to commence in September. The bid was opposed by the ABC and Nine but backed by federal prosecutors. Ms Farnan rejected Maguire's application. "The interests of the community in open justice is in my view not outweighed by Mr Maguire's interests," the magistrate said. The magistrate's reasons for determining Maguire's guilt are not yet clear after media and the former MP himself were caught in an administrative mix-up. Another court official on Friday adjourned the case to October only for the magistrate on another level to hand down her decision, without media present. At ICAC, Maguire was asked about what he expected to get out of the sale of an estimated $48 million property development in Campsie in Sydney's southwest. During the criminal hearing earlier in 2025, prosecutors claimed Maguire changed his evidence during questioning over claims he was not expected to be reimbursed. He will face a sentence hearing on August 15. ICAC grilled Maguire and others in 2018 under Operation Dasha, which probed allegations of corruption at the local council. The Wagga Wagga MP resigned from the Berejiklian government after giving evidence, before succumbing to pressure and quitting parliament altogether. ICAC opened a further probe into Maguire, exposing his secret romantic relationship with Ms Berejiklian in 2020. She also stood down from her role and was later found by ICAC to have breached public trust in failing to disclose the relationship, spanning at least five years while she was transport minister, treasurer and then premier.
AU Financial Review
11 hours ago
- AU Financial Review
Kennett calls for Vic Libs clear-out, questions Battin's leadership
Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett has questioned opposition leader Brad Battin's capacity to lead the moribund state Liberals to government and called for a wipe-out of the parliamentary team, opening a fresh battle within the division already reeling from the fallout between MPs John Pesutto and Moira Deeming. Kennett made the comments at a private event hosted by MinterEllison and MST Financial on Thursday night, just as the Victorian Liberal Party's powerful administrative committee voted to provide Pesutto with a $1.55 million loan to help him repay his legal bills to Deeming.
