Opposition leader John Pesutto has suffered a big blow with one of his key deputies quitting his post and parliament Matthew Bach’s decision to resign follows a few strong weeks for the liberal party leaving it once again distracted by internal squabbles.
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00:00 In less than a week, John Pursuto has ridden the highs of a by-election victory
00:07 and suffered the lows of a key deputy quitting parliament.
00:12 Matthew Barke's exit is hardly a ringing endorsement of the Liberals' long-term prospects,
00:17 but John Pursuto remains buoyant after the weekend's Warrandyte win.
00:21 It's reminded the membership at a time when they really needed to be reminded
00:26 that we can win and will win the 2026 election if we just keep up the work we've been doing over recent months.
00:33 The Premier has taken on water over the Commonwealth Games debacle and rising taxes,
00:38 but the Liberal leader is once again faced with internal discontent,
00:41 with the group angry over a push for the Liberal Party to indemnify Mr Pursuto and his leadership team
00:47 from defamation action threatened by anti-trans rights activist Kelly J Keane.
00:52 There were plenty of issues for the opposition to harangue the Premier over,
00:56 but these constant internal battles raise a question.
00:58 What are MPs trying to achieve? Is it to knock off the Andrews government, or is it something else?
01:03 My main expectation is that everybody who's here is here because they're passionate.
01:08 It's been a helpful distraction for the Premier and Labor amid allegations of rotten but not illegal behaviour aimed at several MPs.
01:16 There are no complaints, there are no matters to be dealt with here.
01:20 I'll just again make it clear, my expectation is that everybody behaves appropriately.
01:26 The spotlight on Polly's behaviour is unlikely to go away.
01:29 way.
01:31 [BLANK_AUDIO]