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John Pesutto is a fighter, alright. Except the only punches he’s landing … are on himself!

Victorian Liberal Leader John Pesutto lost in court last Thursday — but the real losers were Victorians.

How are voters supposed to choose between the completely inept Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, and the now completely discredited Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto?

It’s like asking Victorians – would you rather be eaten by a shark, or by a crocodile?

The man charged with saving Victoria from Labor has spent most of the past 22 months distracted by a ridiculous feud with Moria Deeming, the MP he expelled from the Liberal Party Room.

Lousy Leader

Judge David O’Callaghan found Pesutto had defamed the exiled MP by falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she helped to organise a women’s rights rally that was gate-crashed by neo-Nazis.

The Victorian Liberal leader was ordered to pay $300,000 in damages.

Sources close to the case say once legal bills are factored into the equation, the Liberal leader could be out of pocket to the tune of $2m.

But that’s not the most costly part —

The judge found not only that Pesutto’s characterisation of Deeming was wrong, but that Pesutto should have known it was wrong.

So Pesutto misjudged the legality of what he said … which is pretty damning since Pesutto is a lawyer.

And he misjudged the politics of going after Deeming … which is pretty damning since Pesutto is a politician.

I hope he’s good at making coffees — because that’s where he might end up.

Although, come to think of it, making a half-decent flat white also requires good judgement.

Pesutto didn’t bother showing up to court on Friday, which indicates he knew what was coming.

Despite that, as recently as last Thursday, he had insisted that he would stay on as leader of the Liberal Party no matter the ruling.

He told the journalists:

“I’m a fighter. And Victorians need a fighter.”

John Pesutto is a fighter, alright. Except the only punches he’s landing… are on himself!

He’s just wasted 22 months fighting a colleague… whose only crime was to embarrass him by standing for women’s rights in the country’s most progressive state.

Arguing he can continue to take the fight up to Labor after this result is so ludicrous it immediately reminded me of Monty Python’s Black Knight who, having lost his arms and legs in a sword fight, wanted to keep going, arguing “it’s just a flesh wound”.

Surely Pesutto doesn’t survive a judgement like yesterday’s.

And if he thinks he should… it only proves his lack of political judgement for the two people still wondering.

Basketcase

But like I said, whatever happens to John Pesutto, he’s not the biggest loser.

That title belongs to long-suffering Victorians who deserve better – from the government, and from the alternative government.

I’d say that Victoria is a basketcase, but I don’t want Judge David O’Callaghan to rule that I’ve defamed baskets.

The state has a massive debt — $188b and rising.

It’s now the fourth most indebted state government of any advanced economy in the world, outside of the US.

That ‘we’re not quite as broke as California’ is hardly a boast.

There are half-finished multibillion-dollar public infrastructure projects the public doesn’t want, while there’s no plan for a train between the airport and the city, which people do want.

And we haven’t yet talked about hospitals, housing or crime.

If only John Pesutto was as aggressive at attacking Jacinta Allan and her hopeless government, as he was Moira Deeming.

If Pesutto cares about Victoria, as he claims, he should resign immediately.

The Victorian Liberal Party should issue an apology to Moira Deeming, and invite her back into the Party room where she can cast a vote for the state’s fifth Liberal leader in the past ten years.

What a mess.

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Republished with thanks to The James Macpherson Report.

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