Before anyone tries to have a crack at me about women’s rights, equality etc let me say this…I am married the best woman in the world who does amazing things working with women to get them back into the workforce. I’m a Dad of daughters who I truly believe can do anything they set their minds to and I think if there were more women in global leadership roles in the corporate and government sectors we’d be much better off as a society. Ok? Now seperate to all of that is how badly the Liberal Party have treated John Pesutto.

The treatment of John Pesutto isn’t about women’s rights or standing up to men who have indeed done the wrong thing, it is an insight into how rotten to the core the Liberal Party actually is. There is no doubt that Pesutto stuffed up and has been found guilty in a court of law, but that a former leader of the liberal party is now facing financial ruin as key members and supporters of the party stand round posting on social media that the utter destruction of one of their own is a victory is disgraceful.

There is no doubt the Liberal party need to rebuild their credibility from the ground up, but the liberal party in Victoria aren’t doing very much to show they can relate to average Australians let alone be a voice for women. It’s one thing to stand up for what is right and fair, it is another thing entirely to watch on as one of your own suffers immeasurably as penance for their crime.

Pesutto it’s been found did defame Moira Deeming. He’s lost his job as leader of the state liberal party, he now indeed shows great contrition and faces $2 million plus in legal fees that he personally has absolutely no chance of paying. But here’s the hypocrisy of the Libs…if Pesutto can’t get the Libs to pay the $2 million he goes bankrupt, which means he can’t be an MP, which triggers a by election in his seat and given what’s happened at the recent federal election the Libs face the prospect of losing another seat in parliament. Given they haven’t got many seats in the house are they really going to lose another one for the sake of throwing one of their own under the bus?!

Of course Moira Deeming didn’t deserve what she got from Pesutto, of course women need to be women, of course we as a society should always stand up for women’s rights but if any kind of political party, especially one so bereft of direction and support thinks they can simply throw one of their own under the bus without one single care for his mental health and personal well being and think they can lead the state, I think they need to remember what Dale Kerrigan said…