John Pesutto (born 5 September 1970) is an Australian politician and lawyer serving as the leader of the Opposition in Victoria, holding office as the leader of the Victorian Branch of the

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

. He has been a

member of the Legislative Assembly A member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) is a representative elected by the voters of a constituency to a legislative assembly. Most often, the term refers to a subnational assembly such as that of a state, province, or territory of a country. ...

(MLA) for the inner-city division of

Hawthorn Hawthorn or Hawthorns may refer to: Plants * '' Crataegus'' (hawthorn), a large genus of shrubs and trees in the family Rosaceae * ''Rhaphiolepis'' (hawthorn), a genus of about 15 species of evergreen shrubs and small trees in the family Rosace ...

since 2022, and previously from 2014 to 2018.

Early life and career

Pesutto studied at Catholic Regional College Traralgon from 1983–1988, and studied a Bachelor of Laws / Bachelor of Commerce at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb no ...

from 1989–1993. He worked as a lawyer for Littleton Hackford from 1994–1996, as an Electorate Officer for

Russell Broadbent Russell Evan Broadbent (born 25 December 1950) is an Australian politician who is a Liberal Party member of the House of Representatives, representing the Division of Monash (previously McMillan). He is one of the longest-serving current members ...

from 1996–1997, as a lawyer for Henty Jepson & Kelly from 1997–2006, as a lawyer for Phillips Fox from 2006–2009, as a self-employed consultant from 2009–2011 and Director of the Productivity and Employment Unit with the

Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tankAbout the IPA
...

in 2010, and in the Office of the Premier from 2011–2014 as Counsel to Denis Napthine, Chief of Staff to the Health Minister and as a Senior Advisor to Ted Baillieu. During his career in private legal practice, Pesutto practised with a focus on industrial relations and employment matters, while his consultancy having a focus on advising government departments and public sector agencies on governance and performance issues. After losing his seat in the 2018 Victorian state election, Pesutto took up an honorary post in the school of government at the University of Melbourne, established his own consultancy firm called Hugo Benice Advisory offering legal work and media, government and competition advice, and maintained a presence in the media through writing columns for The Age and appearing on ABC Radio and Joy FM.

Political career

Pesutto is considered to be a moderate Liberal. Pesutto ran for

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

preselection for Kooyong at the 2010 Federal Election but lost to

Josh Frydenberg Joshua Anthony Frydenberg () (born 17 July 1971) is an Australian former politician who served as the treasurer of Australia and deputy leader of the Liberal Party from 2018 to 2022. He also served as a member of parliament (MP) for the divisi ...

. Pesutto was pre-selected to be Liberal candidate for Hawthorn after defeating

John Roskam John Roskam is the executive director of the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA), a libertarian think tank based in Melbourne, Australia. Career According to Roskam's byline on an opinion col ...

of the

Institute of Public Affairs The Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) is a conservative non-profit free market public policy think tankAbout the IPA
...

for the position. He was Shadow Attorney General in

Matthew Guy Matthew Jason Guy (born 6 March 1974) is an Australian politician. He has been a Liberal Party of Australia Member of the Parliament of Victoria since 2006, representing Northern Metropolitan Region in the Legislative Council (2006–2014) ...

's first shadow ministry. He was defeated at the 2018 state election. He was a panelist on

ABC ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

on election night when he was told on live television that he lost his seat. On 14 December 2021, John Pesutto was endorsed as the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate for

at the

2022 Victorian state election The 2022 Victorian state election was held on Saturday, 26 November 2022 to elect the 60th Parliament of Victoria. All 88 seats in the Legislative Assembly (lower house) and all 40 seats in the Legislative Council (upper house) were up for el ...

. Pesutto won re-election in the state election on 26 November 2022 against

teal independent The teal independents, sometimes simply referred to as teals, are a loosely-aligned group of independent and minor party politicians in Australian politics. They have been characterised as strongly advocating for increased action to mitigate cli ...

challenger Melissa Lowe on a 1.2% margin. After Liberal leader Matthew Guy announced his resignation, Pesutto announced his candidacy for Liberal leader. Pesutto was elected leader of the Liberal Party on 8 December 2022, winning the party room ballot by one vote against Brad Battin.

Personal life

A resident of Hawthorn for over 25 years, Pesutto is married to Betty and has three daughters.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pesutto, John 1970 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian lawyers University of Melbourne alumni politicians Melbourne Law School alumni Australian politicians of Italian descent People from Traralgon 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian lawyers People from Hawthorn, Victoria