Victoria has a new Liberal leader in Jess Wilson who has replaced Brad Battin.
Battin has been in the leadership position since December 2024 when he ousted former leader John Pesutto who had become embroiled in a legal sage with first term MP Moira Deeming.
Brad Battin welcomed Deeming back into the party room and said the Liberal team were now a united force, but twelve months later they were united in asking him to step down.
Stepping up to the role is 35-year-old Jess Wilson who becomes the first woman to lead the Victorian parliamentary Liberal team.
While Battin, a former police officer, spent much of his time focusing on crime, Wilson has immediately signaled a change of direction with the state’s budget as her top issue.
While in her first comments to the media Wilson made a passing mention to crime, she zeroed in on housing and healthcare as issues to talk about.
The next state election will be held in November 2026, and polls are not looking positive for the Liberals at this time.
Wilson was first election to parliament at the 2022 election and represents the seat of Kew in Melbourne’s east. Prior to her parliamentary career she worked as an adviser to former federal minister Josh Frydenberg, and as the Executive Director of Policy at the Business Council of Australia.
Under Presutto she was the Shadow Minister for Finance, Economic Reform and Regulation, as well as the Shadow Minister for Home Ownership and Housing Affordability. In a cabinet reshuffle in 2023 she switched her housing responsibilities for Early Childhood and Education.
Wilson stood for the leader’s position in December 2024 but was knocked out in the first round of voting, with Battin going on to unseat Pesutto.
This afternoon Wilson appeared in parliament for Question Time stepping into the top spot for the first time. Victorian Premier Jacinta Allen thanked her for the questions she asked describing her as “the latest leader of the opposition”.
