The end of Brad Battin’s leadership began with putting conservatives offside.
He had enraged Bev McArthur. There was the party’s loan to former leader John Pesutto, sparing Pesutto from bankruptcy after he repeatedly defamed his colleague Moira Deeming.
Brad Battin addressing the media after he lost the Victorian Liberals’ leadership. Credit: Jason South
Then there was the forced exit of his communications director Dominic Raff, McArthur’s former staffer.
Then, crucially, Battin last month reshuffled his shadow cabinet. He left conservative MPs Joe McCracken, Renee Heath and Chris Crewther off the frontbench.
At the same time, he disenfranchised MPs from a middle grouping that had backed his leadership.
Battin demoted Roma Britnell and gave James Newbury a sideways promotion from shadow treasurer to shadow attorney-general.
Multiple sources at the time told The Age that Newbury had been promised the treasury position when he played kingmaker in Battin’s Christmas coup over John Pesutto last year.
All up, the reshuffle was viewed as a betrayal and sealed his fate.
