38 Mrs Deeming was elected at the 2022 election.
Mr Pesutto
39 Mr Pesutto has practised as a lawyer at various points from 1994. In 1996, he took a year off to become a political staffer, and returned to practice in 1997 until 2011, when he joined the staff of Mr Edward Baillieu AO, the then Premier of Victoria.
40 Mr Pesutto was elected as the Liberal Member for the seat of Hawthorn in the 2014 Victorian state election. Between December 2014 and December 2018, he was the Shadow Attorney-General.
41 Mr Pesutto deposed that while he was Shadow Attorney-General, he was generally aware of Mrs Deeming as becoming active in the Victorian Liberal Party, but that they did not have a lot to do with each other at that time.
42 Mr Pesutto lost his seat in the 2018 election, after which he became a Senior Fellow at the School of Government at the University of Melbourne, and returned to legal practice.
43 In November 2021, he was endorsed as the Liberal candidate for Hawthorn for the 2022 election. He regained his seat at that election.
Events in 2022
Mrs Deeming and Mr Pesutto meet in December
44 In early December 2022, Mrs Deeming and Mr Pesutto had a conversation over coffee at the Watergardens Hotel in Taylors Lakes. Mrs Deeming and Mr Pesutto have slightly different recollections of what they said to each other about issues relating to sex-based rights and safeguards for women and children, and how Mrs Deeming should advocate for such rights without being a "one issue" parliamentarian, but the nuances of those differences are of no moment. Mrs Deeming said her recollection was that Mr Pesutto was trying to gain her support and win her vote to be Leader of the Party, something which Mr Pesutto accepted in cross-examination.
45 Following that meeting, on 6 December 2022 Mrs Deeming sent Mr Pesutto a video of an excerpt from a Senate inquiry interaction between her and Greens Senator Janet Rice. Mr Pesutto responded saying "Very calmly done Moira. Thanks too for your time and consideration yesterday. I know it's a tough decision and I appreciated the opportunity. Cheers, JP". The "tough decision" was no doubt a reference to the leadership issue.
