Can Pesutto’s broad church join the chorus? Ain’t nobody got time for that

If there’s one thing the Victorian Liberals should be able to agree on – and there’s never any guarantee – it’s that they have some issues to work through.

There’s the open warfare between party state president Greg Mirabella and former leader Matthew Guy, while present leader John Pesutto tries to present a modern progressive face of the party amid a push by hardline religious conservatives in his caucus, such as Moira Deeming, to drag it back to the 1950s.

Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto.Credit:Enrique Ascui

The emerging guerilla struggle over spots on the powerful administrative committee is no barrel of laughs and that’s before we broach the failures of not one but two elections last year.

Yes, it’s clear that a nice cup of tea and a chat together is what this outfit desperately needs.

But that’s not going to happen soon. The state council meeting slated for April 1 and 2 in Bendigo has been put on hold until an unspecified date, members were told on Tuesday, meaning that the righteous and unrighteous alike will just have to wait for a chance to air their grievances.

But it can’t be avoided. There’s a byelection on April 1 in Alan Tudge’s former electorate of Aston and although the Liberals really should win it, they need all hands to the pump in the eastern suburbs. They just can’t afford to lose it, not after the dismal showings in last year’s state and federal elections.

So all-in-all, a lot to talk about. Let’s hope they all get to sit down together soon.

PESUTTO NAMES SPIN DOCTOR

One person who will be giving the party’s future his full attention is the Victorian opposition’s new director of communications and strategy, Nick Johnston.

It’s not often that a major political party announces internal hires. But the opposition has made a habit of it after Mitch Catlin set off a merry-go-round of newsworthy departures and replacements.

The Victorian opposition’s new director of communications and strategy Nick Johnston.Credit:LinkedIn

Pesutto on Wednesday announced Johnston’s appointment – not an easy role after two disastrous elections for the Liberal Party. But Johnston is well-regarded after stints at the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Property Council, AFL, GWS Giants, and in the very news outlet you’re reading.

“With more than 30 years’ experience on both sides of the media, Mr Johnston has enjoyed a distinguished career as a journalist, including stints covering state and federal politics for The Age, the ABC and Nine,” a statement from the opposition leader said.

Catlin, of course, quit his position as chief of staff to Guy (then opposition leader) last August when his emails asking billionaire Jonathan Munz for cash made their way into The Age. Munz didn’t take him up on it and the whole saga cost Catlin his job.

Guy formally announced his replacement, now upper house MP Nick McGowan, a week later but then had to replace Lee Anderson as director of communications. Apparently, McGowan and Anderson clashed on the best media strategy to take the party to the November election. Whatever position the party landed on, it doesn’t look like it worked very well for them.

Alex Woff and Anja Wolff were promoted in August and will stay on when Johnston starts giving Pesutto “important communications and strategic advice” from March 14.

DOPE PLANT

By all accounts, the Australian athletic circuit’s premier event, the Maurie Plant Meet, held in Melbourne last week was a roaring success, drawing the biggest crowds in years.

Perhaps it was in part due to a change of name – with the old Melbourne Track Meet rebranded after Maurie Plant, a towering, beloved and larger than life figure in the Australian, and international athletic communities who died in 2020.

But that hagiographic image left little room for a pesky little incident facilitating doping in the 1980s. A landmark 1989 Senate inquiry into drugs in sport conducted by former Labor senator John Black found that Plant had asked heptathlete Jane Flemming to provide a urine sample for javelin thrower Sue Howland, fearing the latter would test positive for steroid use.

The late Maurie Plant, left, with Steve Hooker at the Beijing Games.Credit:Getty Images

According to the report, Plant had agreed with the governing body not to be considered for further managerial positions, but remained a highly influential figure within Australian athletics for decades. When confronted about the incident in a 2013 Four Corners episode, Plant dismissed the findings as a “loose inquiry” that was “very broad brushstrokes”, before walking out of the interview.

And it seems like the athletics community concurs with Plant’s own assessments of his wrongdoing. A spokesperson for Athletics Australia, which made Plant a life member in 2006, pointed to his many years of contribution to the sport, and his role in guiding the careers of Olympians like Cathy Freeman.

“Maurie Plant is not defined by any one incident, nearly 40 years ago,” they said.

POOL SHARK

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese might have broken an election promise over changes to superannuation this week, but at least he keeps his promises to the Midwinter Ball.

Anthony Albanese chalks up the victories.Credit:John Shakespeare

At last year’s do, former Howard government adviser-turned Willard Public Affairs lobbyist David Miles put up over $10,000 at the charity auction to win a game of snooker with the PM.

A regular Midwinter Ball bidder, Miles backed his snooker game before the showdown at The Lodge on Tuesday night, we hear. But Albo clearly had a misspent youth in the booze halls of Sydney’s pre-gentrification inner west, plus a practice table at his new digs – he comfortably rinsed his opponent 3-0.

No doubt, the PM reckons he’ll have Opposition Leader Peter Dutton similarly snookered. Miles’ wife, Tory Maguire, executive editor of The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald wasn’t in attendance – just as well given her lack of snooker ability.

CRIKEY’S HIGH ROLLER

Independent news site Crikey faces a kind of David v Goliath court battle with News Corp executive chair Lachlan Murdoch, who claims he was defamed by an article which referred to his family as “unindicted co-conspirators” in the Capitol riots.

David v Goliath because while Murdoch has the bottomless wells of the family to help fund a legal team fronted by pugilistic barrister and occasional baker Sue Chrysanthou, Crikey has turned to GoFundMe to pay the bills.

And the $585,1118 raised at the time of writing included another recent generous donor: reclusive maths whizz and high-stakes gambler Duncan Turpie. A regular bankroller of the Greens, and various progressive causes, Turpie threw a casual $2500 Crikey’s way this week.

Still, it was only half the $5000 both Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull chipped in, but beat out the $1000 the publisher received from former News Corp boss Kim Williams, who has no love lost for Murdoch the younger.

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