The Victorian Liberal Party has been plagued by infighting for years, with the latest outburst led by exiled MP Moira Deeming and her supporters. This has once again shifted the national spotlight onto the under-performing Victorian Liberal division, which has only won one state election since 1996. The public blue is occurring at a time when the Andrews government deserves scrutiny, with this month’s state budget expected to be a horror show full of cuts. However, the Victorian Liberals are talking about themselves, capturing media attention and providing an entertaining blood sport for political junkies.
The Origin of the Chaos
The current chaos began six weeks ago when Ms Deeming was suspended by the party room over links to an anti-trans rights rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. At the time, Michael Pesutto wanted to expel the MP for bringing the party into disrepute. It was an attempt to signal to Victorians that he was serious about bringing his side back to the centre. However, Pesutto’s handling of the Deeming expulsion motion was botched and lacked a clear argument with authority. “The leader’s job is to hold the party together, on that he has failed,” a senior Liberal MP said.
Deeming’s decision to sue Pesutto this week has rallied support behind the leader and has emboldened MPs to take on Deeming and her supporters, who have attacked Pesutto’s leadership at every chance. Deeming is unlikely to ever rejoin the party room, with a new expulsion motion to be circulated as early as today.
A Reset for the Party?
Some in the Liberal Party community are hoping that this crisis may provide the opportunity for the leader and broader party to set a new tone by cleaning the party up and focusing on issues that actually matter to Victorians, like the parlous state of the budget. “This is a real problem, not just a political problem because we have a bad government and we’re not holding them to account,” a senior Liberal said – a view shared by multiple Liberals who spoke to the ABC. However, there has been a culture of leaking and undermining the leader that stretches back to when Ted Baillieu was brought down as premier. Some of those malcontents remain in the state parliament and are part of the reason for this current crisis.
Preselecting ‘Activists’
A constant concern for Liberals is that the party is willing to preselect candidates who are prominent on specific issues, often on the fringe of what matters in state politics. Deeming is a case in point. “She’s an activist and she’s failed to make the transition to MP,” one MP said. It means that their views are blinkered to wider issues, which is what is required for a party of government. Part of this problem is that preselection processes are often dominated by culture-war issues which don’t win large slabs of votes. Voters are usually interested in issues like the cost of living, the health system and schools.
Federal Intervention
A federal intervention of the Victorian division may be on the cards. This would be a takeover of the party’s state administration, which has been riven by factionalism and a lack of professionalism for years. On Friday, federal leader Peter Dutton did not rule out an intervention into the Victorian branch. There are no powers to intervene in the state’s parliamentary party room, because that is the domain of the elected state MPs. An intervention would be resisted in some quarters, especially given Dutton’s standing with voters in the state.
Expelling MPs
MPs are openly discussing expelling Moira Deeming, and a motion to expel her could be circulated as early as today with a vote by the end of the week. Others want the party to go further and sanction MP Renee Heath after she circulated an email that accused Pesutto of bullying her. There are other MPs in their sights too, particularly those referred to as terrorists – they’re yet to be named publicly. “It’s time to take out the trash. This is going to be really ugly and we’re going to see a lot of blood, but something needs to change, and we need to get rid of these extremists,” an MP said.
Conclusion
The Victorian Liberal Party has been plagued by infighting for years, with the latest outburst led by Moira Deeming and her supporters. This has once again shifted the national spotlight onto the under-performing Victorian Liberal division, which has only won one state election since 1996. The public blue is occurring at a time when the Andrews government deserves scrutiny, with this month’s state budget expected to be a horror show full of cuts. However, the Victorian Liberals are talking about themselves, capturing media attention and providing an entertaining blood sport for political junkies. A federal intervention may be on the cards, but it remains to be seen if this will provide a reset for the party or if the infighting will continue
Source: abc.net.au
