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SBS Australia
a day ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Moira Deeming, John Pesutto urged to 'smell the roses' after party grants bankruptcy bailout
A $1.5 million loan has been granted to former Victorian 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 Deeming after the Federal Court found he defamed her by implying she was associated with neo-Nazis. 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 Deeming's guaranteed preselection and 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 Deeming. Pesutto will be required to repay the loan at market-rate interest. 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. Entering parliament on Thursday morning, 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. 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. Deeming said the party could "do what they like" but she would take any support of 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. Battin urged Deeming and Pesutto to "smell the roses" if either woke up on Friday morning unhappy with the outcome. Time is running out for Battin to unite the Liberals before the next state election in November 2026.
ABC News
07-06-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
As John Pesutto faces bankruptcy, the Victorian Liberals struggle to unite
So much of politics is the art of compromise. It's an art form the Victorian Liberals seem unwilling, or unable, to practice as the party once again rips itself apart over the fate of former leader John Pesutto. Unless Mr Pesutto can stump up $2.3 million in the coming weeks, he'll be bankrupted and expelled from state parliament, after he was successfully sued for defamation by his colleague Moira Deeming. On Friday, Mr Pesutto was served an official bankruptcy notice, giving him a 21-day deadline to come up with the money. The Hawthorn MP is desperately trying to raise the money and secure a loan. A proposal for the party to provide that loan still hasn't been landed and is proving a new lightning rod for division and anger. But Mr Pesutto's very public demise is about much more than his defamation defeat — it is about control of the heart of the party. At its core, this contest is about the ideological direction of the Victorian Liberals and is the culmination of years of internal infighting. It's about whether the Liberals are still a "broad church", a term so often used to describe the party. The ABC has spoken to more than a dozen Liberal MPs past and present as well as party figures, who wished to speak anonymously to frankly discuss the state of the party. None, from either side of a widening factional divide, say the opposition is presenting itself as a credible alternative government, despite myriad challenges facing Victorians. The state party room is characterised by personal animus, a focus on petty internal disputes and a desperation to control the party. "It's all about promoting self above the party and the values it can bring to the state or country." After more than a decade in opposition, some Liberals believe MPs are gripped by "institutional opposition", where the only mission goal is internal control. In a sign of just how widespread the rancour is, MPs loyal to both Mr Pesutto and Ms Deeming described the other as a "terrorist" intent on damaging the party just to get their way. Those supporting Ms Deeming think Mr Pesutto should take his medicine and leave parliament if he cannot pay the money. While those behind Mr Pesutto, including former Premier Jeff Kennett, say the party must support a man who was acting in his capacity as leader. "Can you imagine the Labor Party allowing one of their own to be bankrupted,'' Mr Kennett recently wrote to the party's powerful administrative committee, who may decide on a loan for Mr Pesutto. "There are only two questions you need to answer. What is in the best interests of the party? What must we do to give ourselves any chance of winning the state election?" The saga started in early 2023. Ms Pesutto tried to expel Ms Deeming, an outspoken first-term MP, over her attendance at an anti-trans-rights rally. The event, entitled Let Women Speak and categorised by supporters as a women's rights event, was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. But Mr Pesutto's expulsion attempts backfired, and a court ultimately found he had defamed Ms Deeming on multiple occasions by conveying that she associated with neo-Nazis. In suing Mr Pesutto, Ms Deeming threw out the rule book and disrupted the status quo. "They want someone like me to quit,'' Ms Deeming said in a recent online interview with Club Grubbery, a website started to "provide a voice for all those adversely impacted by the COVID madness". Both Ms Deeming and Mr Pesutto declined to be interviewed for this story. Even with the emphatic court win — $315,000 in damages and $2.3 million in legal costs — Ms Deeming wants total victory. She recently said she had "no idea" why Mr Pesutto remained a Liberal party member. It's a view shared by loud voices outside the state party room, as well as some within. "He tried to silence a woman — don't we already have a problem with women voters?" another said. Mr Pesutto won Hawthorn by 1,500 votes at the 2022 election, returning to parliament after losing his once safe seat to Labor in 2018. The threat now comes from teal independents — Hawthorn sits within the federal seat of Kooyong and the area is one of the strongest for federal MP Monique Ryan. "We can't have a by-election, if we do, we'll get smashed, then we lose all momentum for 2026,'' a senior, despairing, Liberal said. At the heart of this problem is a culture where the Victorian Liberal Party, and many who represent it, are more concerned with internal victories than representing the people. Ms Deeming doesn't like the current direction of the party. She says it has "crashed into the rocks". She wants the party to be more conservative and supports recruiting people that share her views into the party to steer its direction. "We need to take back ownership of the party of the centre right,'' Ms Deeming told Club Grubbery. "We have to get really mercenary about [it], we have to get completely brutal." It's this sort of rhetoric that angers, and frightens, other Liberals — especially from the moderate side who have been railing against a "lurch for the right" for more than a decade. There have been well-publicised efforts and allegations of branch stacking, with operatives targeting Mormon groups and other conservative Christian groups for Liberal membership. In recent times, members of micro-conservative parties who have run for parliament have tried to join the Victorian Liberal Party. Political experts, strategists and indeed some within the Liberal Party know this sort of conservative politics does not wash well with Victorian voters. It is part of the reason Mr Pesutto tried to remove Ms Deeming from the party room. He wanted to assure Victorians his party would not get caught up in culture wars. In a recent interview with the ABC, Mr Pesutto didn't back down. "I was determined, and I remain so now, that I want the Liberal Party to be, and to be seen to be, a party that is broad-based, mainstream, inclusive and can appeal to all Victorians — no matter who you are, whether you own a home or you rent, regardless of how you identify,'' he said. Moira Deeming entered parliament after the 2022 state election following a controversial preselection. Ironically, she won support of moderates in the party as part of a factional war with the other local candidate, one not based on any sort of ideology. As a local councillor, Ms Deeming had pushed back against transgender people accessing women's toilets and playing women's sport, an issue she does not retreat from. When Scott Morrison was prime minister, his office intervened in Victoria to ensure that Ms Deeming was not preselected for a federal seat in 2022 because her views were too distracting from the federal campaign. "Women and girls are suffering in Victoria because this government cannot or will not define what a female is, and as a result every woman and every girl in Victoria has lost the right to enjoy female-only sports, female-only change rooms and countless other female-only activities,'' Ms Deeming said in her first speech to parliament, naming the issue as a priority. It angered several MPs who wanted the opposition to focus on toppling the Labor government. So when Ms Deeming helped organise the Let Women Speak rally on the steps of state parliament, Mr Pesutto pounced. Mr Pesutto had miscalculated how many people within the party shared Ms Deeming's concerns about trans rights. It has cost him dearly. Ms Deeming has found support far and wide within Liberal circles, including from high profile figures such as Peta Credlin, the former chief of staff to Prime Minister Tony Abbott turned Sky News host. Hilton Grugeon, a successful property developer from NSW, also came to her aid and bankrolled her legal case. It's the multi-million dollar loan from him that is causing so much pain for the Victorian Liberals. The saga has taken an incredible personal toll on both MPs. Ms Deeming has often spoken about the trauma it has caused her and her family. Her supporters reluctantly admit that Mr Pesutto and his backers have done well to paint Mr Pesutto as the victim in this sorry episode. But they remain unwavering in the direction the party must take. Since 1982, the Liberal Party has won just two out of 12 elections from opposition, and was returned only once in 1996 under Jeff Kennett. Neither Mr Kennett, who won in 1992, nor Ted Baillieu, who won in 2010, were social conservatives. "The federal election showed that, despite the Liberals enjoying the significant advantage of the unpopular Allan Labor government, Victorians are deeply sceptical of the party's brand in this state,'' Monash University politics professor Paul Strangio said. "The current saga will only reinforce the public's misgivings about the Liberals being a viable alternative governing party.'' Professor Strangio has been watching Victorian politics for decades, and holds grave fears for the Liberal party and what its dysfunction means for the state. Without robust competition for office, there is a risk of declining standards of government. "Victoria was the bedrock of the post-war Menzies-inspired Liberal Party. He insisted that the party's creed ought not to be in any way reactionary. Today that tradition has been effectively bankrupted," he said. "The party in Victoria has dying roots, is riven by philosophical and personality-based animosities, is short on talent and politically inept." Professor Strangio said there was a serious test for current Opposition Leader Brad Battin in this conflict — the new leader has remained tight-lipped on picking a side, provoking anger that he is not doing more to resolve the issue. "He looks like a bystander; he looks like he is washing his hands of a situation that effectively amounts to a proxy war over the direction of his party. It's not tenable for a leader to remain publicly mute in these circumstances,'' Professor Strangio said. "It raises the issue of what kind of premier he would make. How much authority would he actually wield over his party? Who is really in control?" Professor Strangio said the fascination with culture wars and the promotion of deeply socially conservative policies is a fundamental miscalculation by some Liberals. It puts them out of alignment with the sensibility of the majority of Victorians. Equally misguided is the idea that these types of concerns and attitudes resonate with outer suburban voters. "'These are demographically complex, socially and culturally-diverse communities. Aggressive conservatism doesn't speak to them, if anything, it alienates them," he said. Professor Strangio said with its record of chronic underperformance, there was a serious case for some form of federal intervention in the Victorian Liberal Party. But those in the party say an intervention is too difficult and that it would not solve the biggest issue — the personal hostility between state MPs. Finding a compromise is proving difficult. A GoFundMe for Mr Pesutto has raised $212,562 and has now been closed as he works to secure a loan to cover the costs. Other major donations are understood to have been committed privately. A plan has been cooked up for the Liberal party or one of its fundraising arms to provide a loan to him to cover the costs. At the time of writing, a proposal has not been put to the administrative committee who will decide. Mr Battin is a member of the panel along with elected volunteers from the membership. He's now understood to be supportive of some rescue package. Anything to avoid a messy by-election that could present questions for his leadership. There has been some reticence from the party to get involved. When Mr Pesutto first moved on Ms Deeming, the admin wing of the party was essentially told to butt out, as it was a matter for the party room. It's why there's some reluctance, and in some members, complete resistance to helping out Mr Pesutto. "He was pig-headed then, and now he wants our help,'' one senior figure said. The personal animosity is party-wide, not just confined to the MPs. Mr Battin did not create the mess but has to deal with it. It's distracting him from his work of trying to end 12 years in the political wilderness for the Victorian opposition. He wants it resolved and is quietly trying to do so, although publicly he is staying tight-lipped. Even if he can resolve this matter, the challenge remains to try and unify a fractured party room. If Mr Pesutto is bailed out by the party, it will only incense Ms Deeming and her group. But if Mr Pesutto is bankrupted, the party will be just as angry. And there is Ms Deeming's upper house preselection. Among the MPs and party figures canvassed for this story was a view that Ms Deeming would lose preselection for next year's election. If that occurs, you can bet the party infighting will ramp up again. And that will be even closer to polling day.
The Guardian
02-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Morning Mail: Gina Rinehart's $400,000 Liberal fundraiser, official push to recognise rock art, Israel targets Gaza schools
Good morning. A dispute between the Victorian Liberals and an event organiser has revealed Australia's richest person Gina Rinehart helped raise almost $400,000 for the occasion. In other news, the government will meet with Unesco to lobby for 50,000-years-old petroglyphs in Western Australia to be included on the world heritage list, despite concerns about 'degrading acidic emissions'. We have a visual guide that takes a deep dive into Ukraine's extraordinary attack on Russia's bomber fleet. And the Guardian has learned the Israeli military deliberately attacked school buildings being used as civilian shelters. Environment | The Albanese government will launch a lobbying campaign in a bid to reverse a Unesco recommendation that an ancient rock art site in Western Australia can't go on the world heritage list due to damaging industrial emissions linked to a controversial Woodside gas development. Party woes | Mining magnate Gina Rinehart helped the Liberal party raise almost $400,000 at an exclusive dinner on the eve of the federal election campaign, the event's organiser has revealed, but fallout from the function has left the party embroiled in a public dispute. Abuse | One in three Australian men has reported committing intimate partner abuse, world-first research has found – and the same research has identified new ways to tackle it. Barmy army | The UK government has declared it will put the first of 12 Aukus-class submarines in the water on schedule in the late 2030s, despite its own major projects agency saying the plan to build their nuclear reactor cores is 'unachievable'. Mushroom trial | Erin Patterson has described her religious conversion and a 'never-ending battle' with low self-esteem and weight issues in emotional evidence to her own triple murder trial. Exclusive | A series of recent deadly airstrikes on school buildings sheltering displaced people in Gaza were part of a deliberate Israeli military bombing strategy, with further schools identified as targets, the Guardian has learned. Colorado | A man has been charged with a federal hate crime and multiple other felonies after he allegedly used a makeshift flamethrower and incendiary devices to attack a crowd of people who were raising awareness for Israeli hostages in Gaza, injuring eight. Sicilian eruption | A huge plume of ash, gas and rock has spewed forth from Italy's Mount Etna, Europe's largest active volcano, but authorities said there was no current danger to the population. Citizenship-by-investment | Andrew Tate allegedly secured a 'golden passport' from the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu the month he was arrested in Romania on charges including rape and human trafficking, it has been reported. Wheely old | A wheel of parmigiano reggiano has been celebrated as 'an authentic jewel of nature' after setting a longevity record for parmesan cheese. Why the key to good sleep can't be found on TikTok Social media is rife with hacks that claim to help you sleep better and deeper. From melatonin, feeding your baby butter and taping your mouth shut, the solutions range from obvious to unexpected. In conversation with Nour Haydar, anti-viral columnist Donna Lu breaks down the viral hacks that the internet claims will help you get better sleep. Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ Örkesh Dölet participated in the Tiananmen Square protests when he was just a 21-year-old student. Now 36 years in exile, Dölet speaks with Nuria Khasim how his connection with his Uyghur identity has instilled in him courage and bravery. He says: 'As Uyghurs, we do the right thing, not the safe thing.' Citrus such as oranges and mandarins are in season, offering grocery shoppers fruit that is sweet and well priced. Blueberries, on the other hand, are 'quite diabolical' from bad weather conditions and the time of year. Maddie Thomas has the lowdown on which fruit and veg you should buy and which to avoid this month. Sign up to Morning Mail Our Australian morning briefing breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Soccer | The Matildas beat Argentina 4-1 in a farewell match to coach Tom Sermanni. Cricket | Australian limited overs great Glenn Maxwell has called time on his decorated one-day international career to focus on next year's T20 World Cup and domestic competitions as injuries begin to take their toll. Tennis | Daria Kasatkina's first grand slam as an Australian is over, ended at the French Open by her teenage phenomenon friend Mirra Andreeva. The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, is under pressure to halt a policy giving Western Australia a greater cut of GST, the Age reports. According to the Sydney Morning Herald, University of Sydney students will no longer be allowed to make non-course-related announcements at the start of lectures after an external review on combatting antisemitism. The Mercury has photos of the Aurora Australis, with the spectacle dazzling some and leaving others underwhelmed. Wages | The Fair Work Commission will release its annual wage review. Perth | The inquest into the death of Cleveland Dodd continues in the Perth Central Law Court. Paris | The OECD Ministerial Council Meeting will convene. If you would like to receive this Morning Mail update to your email inbox every weekday, sign up here, or finish your day with our Afternoon Update newsletter. You can follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland. And finally, here are the Guardian's crosswords to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword
The Guardian
30-05-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
After a week of spectacular self-sabotage, the Victorian Liberal party's pain is only just beginning
It was meant to be the Victorian Liberals' week. Instead, the party – now almost synonymous with political self-sabotage – has imploded once again. And it's likely only going to get worse from here as the countdown officially begins for former leader John Pesutto to pay the $2.3m in legal fees he owes Moira Deeming or face bankruptcy after he was found in December to have defamed her. 'The pain for John may be about to end, but the pain for others may be just about to begin,' one of Pesutto's supporters warned. The week had started with a sense of optimism from Pesutto's successor as opposition leader, Brad Battin, and his team. After machete-wielding rival gangs sent a shopping centre into lockdown at the weekend, the Labor government on Monday rushed to ban the sale of the knives within 48 hours. It was a move the Liberals had advocated for since 2023, giving them a rare 'we told you so' moment. They also had their budget reply on Tuesday, headlined by a policy designed to win back young voters: abolishing stamp duty for properties under $1m. But whatever momentum the Liberals were hoping to build vanished before the shadow treasurer stood up to deliver his speech. Earlier on Tuesday, a party room meeting was called to discuss what – if anything – was being done by Battin to avert a byelection in the seat of Hawthorn – which will occur if Pesutto is bankrupted and therefore disqualified from parliament. The issue of the byelection – which many Liberals believe the party would lose – was raised by the Sandringham MP, Brad Rowswell, who had attempted to discuss it during a shadow cabinet meeting on Monday but was told it was a matter for the broader party room. After facing criticism that such a discussion would distract from the party's messaging, Rowswell deferred the discussion altogether. But the matter still made headlines and overshadowed the budget response. A Liberal MP loyal to Battin said it was an intentional move to 'destabilise' the leader, while a detractor said it was a 'valid question everyone has been asking'. It only got worse for Battin, when a letter from Deeming's lawyers to Pesutto was leaked to the media on Wednesday. It suggested that in the event of Pesutto's bankruptcy, Deeming would seek to recover her legal costs from those who contributed to his defence fund. The list includes three former Liberal premiers, Ted Baillieu, Denis Napthine and Jeff Kennett, two sitting MPs, Georgie Crozier and David Southwick, and other party figures who have supported the Hawthorn MP. According to one Pesutto supporter, the letter had the effect of 'galvanising support' for the beleaguered former leader, as it 'showed it won't end with him if he is bankrupted'. 'It will engulf the entire party with months of hearings and political bloodletting ahead.' Deeming's lawyers are set to initiate bankruptcy proceedings on Monday, after Pesutto failed to meet Friday's deadline. Pesutto will then have a further three weeks to pay the $2.3m owed, of which sources say he has raised around a third. Deeming's lawyers have also applied to the federal court for leave to issue subpoenas to obtain communications between Pesutto and those who donated to his unsuccessful legal defence. 'It will be a shit show for all involved and a nightmare for the party,' another Pesutto supporter said. Sign up for Guardian Australia's breaking news email It's no wonder Battin faced relentless questioning on the matter. On Wednesday, he repeated the same line that he would keep his conversations confidential and urged his colleagues to stay 'on message'. But Southwick broke ranks, urging people to 'step up' to prevent a Hawthorn byelection. 'The fact that [Pesutto's] fighting for his job, fighting for his livelihood – it is horrific, regardless of what people think about the situation,' he told reporters. As one Liberal MP privately quipped: 'They were the type of comments Brad should have made a fortnight ago'. They weren't alone in their criticism. Several Liberal MPs have expressed frustration that Battin failed to show leadership during a week when the party desperately needed him to. Even some who backed him in the December leadership spill are now questioning their decision. The Herald Sun has already reported murmurs of a leadership challenge – less than six months into Battin's tenure. In a sign of how desperate the situation has become, one rumour doing the rounds is that former MP Matt Bach could be asked to return from the UK to lead. Other names being bandied about are Matthew Guy, in what would be his third go as leader, or Jess Wilson, who lost her bid for deputy in December. If all this wasn't enough, the cherry on top of a shocker week were several stories scrutinising expense claims by Battin's deputy, Sam Groth, including allegations that he used a taxpayer funded, chauffeur-driven car – assigned to Crozier – to take himself and his wife from a fundraising event at the Australian Open to their home in Rye and spending $3,269 on hotel stays after sporting events. Groth, who is also the opposition spokesperson for tourism, sport and events, on Friday said his conduct 'was and is above board'. 'It has all been officially disclosed. There is nothing to hide,' he said. For her part, Crozier told the ABC she was 'incredibly disappointed' over the issue, and that 'Victorians deserve a lot better'. 'I think that Sam needs to explain his actions – I can't,' she said. Again, Battin was forced to front the press on Friday on the defensive. 'It's pretty obvious we've had some tensions in the party at the moment. And I'm continuing to work through that,' he said. If anything this week is proof, yet again, that the Victorian Liberal party is too often its own worst enemy. With additional reporting by Henry Belot
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Victorian opposition to scrap stamp duty for first homebuyers if elected next year
The Victorian opposition says it will scrap stamp duty for first homebuyers if it forms government next year — a move one expert says could push up house prices while helping more Victorians into homes. The proposal to wipe stamp duty for all first home purchases of up to $1 million would benefit an expected 17,000 home buyers a year. But the Victorian Liberals declined to detail how they would pay for the proposal, which it said would cost $1.09 billion over the next four-year term of government. Asked how the debt-saddled state could afford the hit, Shadow Treasurer James Newbury flagged a "different set of priorities" if his team was elected in 2026, including getting more people into homes. "We will make every announcement fully costed and released before the election," he said. "There is obviously a difficulty with breaking down a cost prior to doing that, because if we were to give you the costing on one policy, it would foreshadow the other commitments we are going to make." The proposal was the centrepiece of a budget reply speech, delivered on Tuesday, that took aim at the state's tax burden under the Allan Labor government. Treasurer Jaclyn Symes revealed in her first budget last week that the state's debt is set to hit record levels, with net debt expected to reach $167.6 billion this year, before growing to $194 billion in three years' time. However, the budget also includes a $600 million surplus, in part due to the controversial Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund, which will tip $1.6 billion into government coffers in the coming financial year. "We know that one of the cohorts that's missed out a lot is that next generation who want to come through into home ownership," Opposition Leader Brad Battin said on Tuesday. "This is a policy that will be a game-changer. The opposition leader said developers and industry figures he spoke with backed the move, saying it would boost supply and confidence in the sector. But Michael Fotheringham, from research body the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, warned there was a risk it could inflate house prices by increasing the amount home buyers could borrow and spend. "There's a risk that that's inflationary, but as a policy overall, this approach has been quite successful," he said. He said the policy merely lifted the threshold of an existing scheme, which allows for a full stamp duty exemption on properties of up to $600,000 and a concession for properties up to $750,000. "The people that will benefit from [the new policy] are first home buyers that are looking for a more premium home rather than a more modest home, so looking to be a bit more upscale in the market," he said. The construction sector says interest rates, reduced borrowing capacity and construction costs have hampered the feasibility of some residential developments. Dr Fotheringham said a successful policy would strike a balance between making development more feasible without inflating prices. The Labor government recently extended a stamp duty concession for apartments, units and townhouses bought off-the-plan. The policy has been criticised by some who argue it does more to help existing home owners downsize rather than it does to help young people into the market.
