00:00The first order of business is a motion actually brought on by John Persuto initially to reinstate
00:08Moira Deeming.
00:09She was the exiled MP that he forced out of the party after she attended an anti-trans
00:13rights rally.
00:14She later sued him for defamation and it was successful, which has triggered why we're
00:18here again today.
00:19There's been questions about his leadership, questions about his judgement, for his resistance
00:24to having her back in the fold, for failing to apologise.
00:26He's now moved it, but it looks like it's going to be too late.
00:29So people, detractors of John Persuto, will use today's meeting to move a spill against
00:34him.
00:35And then there is three MPs, which is 10% of the party room, have put up their hand
00:40to be leader.
00:41Brad Batten, Jess Wilson and Chris Crutha, the former federal MP.
00:45But MPs are lamenting the fact that they're talking about this on December 27th, when
00:50most Victorians and Australians are on holidays.
00:52Let's have a listen.
00:54I didn't want this meeting to take place today, but it is what it is.
00:59And you know, my heart this morning isn't actually in the Liberal Party room.
01:04My heart this morning is in the western region of Victoria, where there are fires ravaging
01:10the Grampians community.
01:12And as soon as whatever happens today is done and dusted, we've got to move on and focus
01:18on what Victorians need us to focus on, like keeping our community safe at this otherwise
01:23challenging time.
01:24Richard, can you give us a little bit more of the background as to how we got here?
01:29Well, yeah, this is a deeply divided Victorian Liberal Party and it has been for the best
01:35part of a decade, really.
01:37This latest has come to a head because two years ago, John Persuto won the leadership
01:41from Brad Batten by one vote after the crushing 2022 election defeat by Labor Party under
01:47Daniel Andrews.
01:48And there's been a simmering tension between the two broader factions, the Conservatives
01:52and the Moderates, about the direction the party should be taking.
01:54But also it's John Persuto's decision to suspend and then try and expel Moira Deeming after
02:00she attended that rally I mentioned earlier, that has really set the, I guess, been a lightning
02:05rod for anger, not just with the MPs, but the membership of the Liberal Party.
02:08And what's really fascinating about today's spill motion is that for all the key metrics,
02:12John Persuto is doing well.
02:13They're ahead in the polls.
02:15He's ahead as preferred Premier.
02:16Yet this party has decided that the treatment of Moira Deeming is not good enough.
02:20They want a better direction.
02:21They want more communication.
02:22And it's just sort of another example of how deeply divided they are.
02:27Now this will come to a head, come to a head now.
02:30What will happen is there'll be a spill motion shortly, we expect.
02:33There'll be a vote.
02:34It'll be whittled down to two people and they'll have a new leader.
02:37John Persuto is not expected to stand if there is a leadership spill.
02:40But it also puts in question, what is the direction of the party?
02:43So it's very, very difficult.
02:44You've got the inner Suburbans and the outer Suburbans talking about which direction they
02:48should go in.
02:49And it really is a continuation of this long-running factional battle.
02:52And we'll see who comes out on top.
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