Wilson, Battin to challenge for Liberal leadership, as crucial vote to be put to MPs

Newbury publicly accused the opposition leader of breaching the party constitution, leading to intervention from state Liberal director Stuart Smith.

“It is clear that a holiday does not make it ‘impossible’ for a member to return for the meeting,” Newbury wrote.

Smith’s intervention will mean three votes are due to be put to the party room on Friday: whether the absent MPs can vote remotely; if exiled MP Moira Deeming should be readmitted to the party room; and a challenge to the leadership.

If Deeming is readmitted to the party, there is nothing to stop her from entering the meeting and casting her vote on the leadership challenge.

Those supporting Jess Wilson are confident they could win a majority, but said it depended on whether remote voting will be allowed. One MP in Wilson’s camp said on Thursday: “The only thing stopping our colleagues overseas having their say is Brad Battin’s fear they won’t vote for him.”

Wilson was initially floated for the deputy position in a unity deal between conservatives and moderates but was sidelined in favour of Groth.

That would leave Wilson – a moderate considered a strong performer even by Labor ministers – without a high-level portfolio.

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Pesutto, the party’s most popular leader in recent history, has scrambled to prevent a spill since losing his defamation case against exiled Deeming. His backers include deputy leader David Southwick, health spokesperson Georgie Crozier and shadow attorney-general Michael O’Brien.

Three MPs said Battin was seeking to have a frontbench evenly split between male and female colleagues. Currently, seven of the party’s 23 frontbenchers are women.

Battin was first elected to parliament in 2010 as the member for Berwick, in Melbourne’s growing outer south-east.

One former MP described him as rash, but said he was “pretty smart, fairly affable and engaged well with his community”.

Battin’s challenge on Friday will mark his third attempt to secure the leadership position. He mounted an unsuccessful coup against then-leader Michael O’Brien in 2021, and narrowly lost out to Pesutto in 2022 following Matthew Guy’s resignation.

It will be the second time this month a vote on Deeming’s membership has been put to the party room. A deadlocked vote on whether she should return was knocked down last Friday after Pesutto used his casting vote, prompting his political allies and opponents to urge the leader to step down.

Pesutto had originally called a party meeting for January 15, in a last-ditch effort to save his job by making a shock concession and agreeing to readmit Deeming.

A group of rebel MPs then moved to bring the meeting forward to Friday, leading to speculation that Battin had the majority of party room support to call a leadership spill. Battin did not formally confirm he would challenge Pesutto until a phone call on Thursday morning.

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