Liberal president re-elected, warns infighting puts party in crisis

Victorian Liberal president Phil Davis has told members the party will never be able to govern if members can’t stop infighting and “kiss, shake hands and make up”.

Davis survived a challenge from his predecessor Greg Mirabella on Saturday and was re-elected president. He urged those gathered at Moonee Valley Racecourse for the party’s state council to set aside their differences.

The party has been fractured over a loan to former leader John Pesutto. Separately, former state director Stuart Smith resigned this week over derogatory WhatsApp messages leaked to the media.

“The last week has not been the highlight of my life, or the presidency, to be blunt. And I hope we don’t see the likes of it ever again,” Davis told party faithful on Saturday afternoon once votes were counted.

Davis was re-elected with 493 votes out of about 900, Liberal sources unable to speak publicly said.

He acknowledged some members would be unhappy with the result but said the party needed to work together to be ready to govern.

“The reality is we have to work together,” Davis said. “The only way we can be ready to govern is to work together to seek that end. That is the only way we will form government.”

He conceded the result of the November 2026 election would be critically important to the future of the party.

“If we are incapable of governing ourselves and being able to win in 2026, in my view, we will be in a crisis,” he said.

“All of us need to do the best we can. And I know sometimes in politics – I’ve been in politics now for 50 years – the elbows go out, and it’s very hard to get over it. But you’ve got to set those differences aside, kiss, shake hands and make up.”

Davis, who is aligned to Smith, said the party’s state executive would begin recruiting for Smith’s replacement next week.

A motion put to the state council on Saturday calling on the parliamentary party to support the legalisation of cannabis in a regulated market failed comprehensively.

Davis has been defending a court challenge to the party’s decision to approve a $1.55 million loan to Pesutto. A handful of members on the state executive have claimed in a Supreme Court challenge that the decision was unconstitutional.

The committee approved the loan in June, sparing Pesutto bankruptcy and the party a byelection in his marginal seat of Hawthorn, after the Federal Court found he had repeatedly defamed his colleague Moira Deeming and ordered he pay $2.3 million in costs.

A loss for Davis on Saturday would have caused alarm for Pesutto’s supporters. The result, reinforcing the status quo, is a win for the moderate grouping.

Opposition Leader Brad Battin received two standing ovations when he addressed the state council, announcing a $100 million law-and-order election promise.

He pledged to introduce Jack’s Law, giving police and protective service officers power to screen people for knives with hand-held metal detectors in all public places, including transport zones and shopping centres.

It was introduced in Queensland in 2023 after the stabbing death of Jack Beasley in 2019, and has so far taken 1200 weapons off the streets.

Jack’s Law has been criticised by some experts as being largely symbolic rather than tackling the root cause of knife crime, with fears it would unfairly target minorities.

Battin also announced plans to establish a Victorian-first “residential and responsibility program” called Restart.

The bootcamp-style initiative would be a structured, live-in program for serious and repeat offenders aged between 12 and 17, and feature mandatory physical and emotional activities to build discipline and confidence.

Federal opposition deputy leader Ted O’Brien also addressed the crowd. He joked about former premier Daniel Andrews’ attendance at a Chinese military parade earlier this month.

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