Save Log in , register or subscribe to save articles for later. Save articles for later Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time. Got it Normal text size Larger text size Very large text size For a man facing two fights – one legal and the other political – Opposition Leader John Pesutto has an uncanny ability to appear composed.
Maybe that’s because Pesutto, 54, is accustomed to getting knocked down and fighting on. His career has been beset by more political setbacks than most. He only fulfilled his long-held ambition to represent the Victorian Liberal Party in parliament in 2014 after several preselection losses.
Then he watched his parliamentary career cut short – live on the ABC’s election night panel – when he lost his inner-Melbourne seat of Hawthorn in 2018, ominously telling viewers he didn’t make the defeat about him. “If we continue to make it about us, that’s when you run into problems like this.” Opposition Leader John Pesutto with wife Betty arriving at court on Wednesday.
Credit: Jason South Winning back Hawthorn against teal and Labor threats in November 2022, he went on to win a ballot for the party’s leadership by just one vote in December that year. But within three months, Pesutto’s future leading the party was thrown into doubt when he made the fateful decision to push for the expulsion of upper house MP Moira Deeming after the Let Women Speak rally on March 18, 2023. Neo-Nazis were among several groups of pro.