Jess Wilson new leader of the Victorian Liberals
Henry Belot
First-term MP Jess Wilson has become the first woman to lead the Victorian Liberal party after defeating Brad Battin in a leadership challenge on Tuesday morning.
The majority of the party room rallied behind the 35-year-old shadow treasurer after a group of senior MPs told Battin he had lost their support on Monday afternoon.
Battin, a former police officer, lasted less than a year in the job after replacing former leader John Pesutto, whose position became untenable after losing a defamation case against his upper-house colleague Moira Deeming.
Battin’s subsequent support for a loan to ensure Pesutto avoid bankruptcy and pay Deeming’s costs enraged sections of the party, which launched a legal challenge to stop it.
But it was Battin’s performance as leader in recent months that convinced supporters to consider replacing him before the end of the parliamentary year.
Key events
Lebara customer dies after Samsung device fails to connect to triple zero
Josh Taylor
TPG – the parent company of Vodafone – said a customer who attempted to dial triple zero on an incompatible Samsung device on 13 November could not make the call and subsequently died.
TPG said in a statement to the ASX that it was informed of the incident at 5.22pm yesterday, following advice from NSW ambulance.
The company wasn’t experiencing a network outage, it said, but early investigations suggest the Lebara customer was using a Samsung device using software that was not compatible with making triple zero calls on the TPG (Vodafone) network.
TPG, Optus and Telstra send out advisories about these devices on 7 November. Under the rules, customers who do not update their handsets after a period of 28-35 days will be blocked from the network.
TPG CEO Iñaki Berroeta said:
Customer safety remains our highest priority. This is a tragic incident and thoughts are with the individual’s family and loved ones. Access to emergency services is critical. We urge all customers with outdated software to replace or update their devices without delay to ensure they can reach triple zero in an emergency.
NSW ambulance was approached for comment.
It follows a number of deaths during an Optus triple zero outage in September.
Henry Belot
Concerns Battin had become ‘one-trick pony’ on crime
Some, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, raised concerns that Battin had become “a one-trick pony” on crime whose campaign was diluted by Jacinta Allan’s decision to allow 14-year-olds to serve adult jail sentences.
Wilson, a former advisor to federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, is seen by her supporters as someone who can comfortably talk about the economy and the cost of living while uniting the party.
She was appointed to the shadow treasury portfolio last month in a reshuffle that is also reported as destabilising his support in the party room.
Wilson, who has described herself as “a small l” Liberal, is a former president of the Victorian Young Liberals and the daughter of former Liberal MP, Ron Wilson. She has worked as a policy director at the Business Council of Australia.
Wilson unsuccessfully challenged Battin in late December, when he replaced former leader John Pesutto. On Monday evening, her supporters were eager to brief the media that she had been encouraged to run, rather than plotting a challenge.
Wilson was elected at the 2022 state election to represent the affluent seat of Kew in Melbourne’s inner eastern suburbs. She has ties to the right-wing thinktank, the Institute of Public Affairs, and is a close ally of Liberal frontbencher James Paterson.
Henry Belot
Wilson flags budget, crime, health and home ownership as priorities
An energetic Jess Wilson has emerged from the party room and named her four priorities as the new leader of the Victorian Liberals:
One, to get the budget back on track.
Two, to end the crime crisis.
Three, to make sure that Victorians can create access to the health care they need and deserve.
Four, to give every Victorian best opportunity to own their own home in this state.
We’ll get a detailed press conference with Wilson a little later this morning.
Henry Belot
Battin says he is ‘proud’ of his work as leader
Brad Battin has made a few short remarks after leaving the party room without his leadership:
I stand continuously proud in the role that I’ve done and the things that I’ve done for the community.
The Victorian Liberal party now has a very clear path to go towards the next election. Obviously … the vote didn’t go my way.
The Victorian Liberal party needs to make sure it’s on a path to ensure that we can get into power at the next election.
Politics isn’t about just being inside the parliament, it’s about the people.
Jess Wilson new leader of the Victorian Liberals
Henry Belot
First-term MP Jess Wilson has become the first woman to lead the Victorian Liberal party after defeating Brad Battin in a leadership challenge on Tuesday morning.
The majority of the party room rallied behind the 35-year-old shadow treasurer after a group of senior MPs told Battin he had lost their support on Monday afternoon.
Battin, a former police officer, lasted less than a year in the job after replacing former leader John Pesutto, whose position became untenable after losing a defamation case against his upper-house colleague Moira Deeming.
Battin’s subsequent support for a loan to ensure Pesutto avoid bankruptcy and pay Deeming’s costs enraged sections of the party, which launched a legal challenge to stop it.
But it was Battin’s performance as leader in recent months that convinced supporters to consider replacing him before the end of the parliamentary year.
Brad Battin is out in Victoria
Henry Belot
Brad Battin has lost a leadership challenge and is no longer leader of the Victorian Liberals.
We’ll bring you more details shortly.
Victorian Liberal spill meeting is under way
Henry Belot
The Victorian Liberals have begun a meeting to determine the leadership of the party, after a group of MPs told Brad Battin they no longer had support on Monday afternoon.
The doors to the opposition party room are closed but reporters outside can hear occasional applause coming from inside.
This is a regular party room meeting during a sitting week, so MPs must move to suspend standing orders and then move to spill positions. That would then trigger a vote on who should lead the party.
We can expect a few brief remarks and an announcement once the meeting concludes. Several MPs told reporters on their way into the party room that they wanted the matter resolved today.
NSW Nationals choose new leader
Anne Davies
Gurmesh Singh, the member for Coffs Harbour, has been elected as the new leader of the Nationals in NSW.
Singh replaces Dugald Saunders, the former leader, who resigned on Monday. The former blueberry farmer was first elected to parliament in 2019. Singh’s election marks a decision by the Nationals to move to a younger generation of MPs.
Kevin Anderson, the member for Tamworth and a long time MP has been elected as his deputy.
Henry Belot
John Pesutto: ‘We need to resolve this today’
Former leader of the Victorian Liberals, John Pesutto, says the party needs to resolve the issue of its leadership this morning.
Pesutto was replaced by Brad Battin as opposition leader in late December, when his leadership of the party became untenable after losing a defamation case against upper-house colleague Moira Deeming.
If Battin is replaced as leader this morning, the state Liberal party would have had three leaders in less than a year.
Pesutto made a couple of comments on his way into Parliament:
I just want to see a collective decision today as we move to the next election. At the end of the day, this is all about the Victoria people.
These are challenging days for a leader and I think it’s important to remember that behind the leaders are families. I think the process needs to be very respectful and we will do that and we will come out with a decision.
We’ve obviously got to resolve this matter today and focus on the Victorian people.
Victorian Liberals share thoughts on Battin’s future before party room meeting this morning
Henry Belot
Deputy leader of the Victorian Liberals, Sam Groth, says he’s confident Brad Battin will remain leader of the Victorian Liberals after a party room meeting this morning.
Battin is expected to face a leadership challenge after a cross-faction group of MPs informed him he no longer had their support.
Shadow treasurer Jess Wilson is expected to challenge Battin after being urged to do so by several of her colleagues.
Any full spill of positions may also impact Groth’s position as deputy leader. He made a few remarks on his way into parliament:
[Brad] will come out this remaining leader of the Liberal party and we will continue to put pressure on the Allan government.
Victorian Liberal Kim Wells says he’s confident a majority of colleagues will approve a spill of leadership positions in coming hours.
On this way into parliament this morning, Wells was critical of the party’s direction in recent months:
I think there has been a lot of unfortunate mistakes place over the last few months and that’s how we’ve got to this situation.
Wells did not specify which mistakes he was referring to.
Liberal MP Moira Deeming repeatedly but politely refused to answer questions from journalists while entering parliament.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Business council calls for ‘sensible amendments’ on environmental protections
The groups also want to ensure that “stop-work orders” issued by the new environment protection agency are subject to appeal, as well as an assurance that the disclosure of projected greenhouse gas emissions won’t be considered as part of the assessment process.
The alliance of industry groups include the Business Council of Australia, the Minerals Council of Australia, Property Council of Australia and National Farmers’ Federation.
The Business Council of Australia’s chief executive, Bran Black, said:
With the sensible amendments we’ve proposed, these laws can deliver strong environmental protections and greater certainty and efficiency for business that we need to get urgent projects like housing and energy happening.
Dan Jervis-Bardy
Industry groups urge Labor and Coalition to negotiate deal on nature laws
Business groups are ramping up pressure on Labor and the Coalition to negotiate a deal on new nature laws, sidelining the Greens and their push for stronger environmental protections.
A group of 26 industry groups has written to the environment minister, Murray Watt, and the shadow environment minister, Angie Bell, urging the major parties to agree to several “sensible amendments” and then pass the laws when parliament returns next week for its final sitting of 2025.
The long-awaited overhaul of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act passed the lower house earlier this month and Anthony Albanese wants them through the Senate before parliament rises on 27 November.
But the government must first land a deal with either the Coalition or the Greens – neither of whom back the laws in their current form.
In their letter to Watt and Bell, supplied to Guardian Australia, the groups request seven “essential changes” to the bill.
The list includes amending the definition of “unacceptable impact” on the environment, which the groups claim is too vague and open to interpretation.
