The Victoria Liberal party has decided it will provide a loan to former leader John Pesutto to help him cover his massive legal bills.
The move will avoid Pesutto having to claim bankruptcy and avoid a by-election in his inner-city seat of Hawthorn. Most political analysts have predicted that the Liberals would most likely loose the seat if forced into a by election.
The loan was signed off on Thursday night by the party’s 19-member administrative committee via a secret ballot. The party will now loan Pesutto $1.5million to over the legal bills he faces to colleague Moira Deeming.
Pesutto was found to have defamed first term conservative MP Moira Deeming at a press conference, via a dossier of documents supplied to colleagues and in several media interviews.
The incidences followed her appearance at the 2023 Let Women Speak rally outside the Victorian Parliament.
The 2023 rally was organised by British provocateur Kellie-Jay Keen and toured around Australia, drawing large protests at each stop around the nation.
At the Melbourne event a group of neo-Nazi’s gatecrashed the event and stood adjacent to the Let Women Speak event, antagonising the protesters. In the days that followed Deeming’s Liberal party colleagues banished her from the party room at Pesutto’s urging.
Pesutto was also ordered to pay damages of $300,000, as well as Deeming’s legal costs that came to $2.3 million and he’ll also have his own legal bills expected to be of a similar amount to those put forward by Deeming’s team.
After the court handed down its result Deeming was readmitted to the Liberal party and Pesutto stood down from his leadership position. Under new leader Brad Battin Deeming has been promoted to the special role of “representative of the western suburbs.”
Deeming’s camp have voiced their opposition to the deal arguing it goes against Liberal values, but Pesutto’s supporters say the party should have indemnified him as the leader.
In the lead up to the deadline for the payment to be made both Deeming and her financial backer businessman Hilton Grugeon put forward payment proposals to save Pesutto from bankruptcy.
Both deals reportedly came with a series of conditions including alleged requirements that Deeming was guaranteed preselection, and in Grugeon’s case a alleged clause that would stop Pesutto from retuning to the leadership role. The details of the proposals have been referred to Victoria’s anti-corruption body.
OUTinPerth does not suggest that either Deeming or Grugeon have done anything wrong, only that referrals have be made to the Victorian IBAC.
