‘The entire party is imploding': Groth, Pesutto, Deeming turning Liberal headache into a migraine
Battin was also forced to defend his deputy, Sam Groth, on Friday over reports Groth had misled opposition frontbencher Georgie Crozier to access her chauffeur-driven car after a fundraiser at the Australian Open last year.
The Herald Sun on Friday reported Groth had asked to borrow Crozier's driver for work reasons but used the car to get home to Rye after a fundraiser at the tennis.
Crozier, who was leader of the opposition in the upper house at the time, told reporters on Friday that she wanted answers.
'I'm incredibly disappointed,' Crozier said outside the opposition's budget reply lunch. 'Sam needs to explain his actions.'
Groth, the opposition's spokesman for tourism, sport, events and hospitality, said he attended the 2024 Australian Open in both an official and personal capacity.
'I was at the event to meet various stakeholders and attend meetings before being part of a fundraising initiative,' Groth said in a statement on Friday.
'Everything was and is above board. It has all been officially disclosed. There is nothing to hide.'
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Filling in on 3AW back in the early 1990s I upset Premier Jeff Kennett so badly he stormed into my office and demanded an apology. My crime was replacing Kennett, on air, with Opposition Leader John Brumby. Jeffrey was on holiday but guarded his regular weekday half-hour spot on the Neil Mitchell show like it was one of his children. The Premier was a lot more volatile back then, during his eight-year reign in the top job, and to say we almost came to blows is not an exaggeration. The pair of us have laughed about it subsequently. He was also, prior to defeating Labor's Joan Kirner in 1992 as Victoria wore the 'rust-bucket state' tag, an exceptional Opposition Leader. John Cain Jr, the predecessor to Kirner, and Labor had driven Victoria into the ground and Victorians were fleeing in great numbers to places like Queensland. Back then the Herald Sun ran a page one that was just black, signifying how bad things had got in the state. Basically, a funeral notice. 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Ley deserves her shot at the top job and given the Coalition will be in Opposition for the next four years she has plenty of time to get known. Brad Battin doesn't have the luxury of time with a state election just 14 months away and Victorians deserve better than an alternative Premier being hidden away. Unlike most state and federal politicians, he has a work history as an ex-police officer and prison guard – ideal for prosecuting the case in a lawless state overrun by violent crime. Someone needs to tell him to accept every media opportunity offered to him. He should take a leaf out of Kennett's playbook where he insisted on live in-person interviews so he couldn't be edited. Victoria had and still has a love-hate relationship with our most successful recent Liberal Premier, but one thing is for sure you couldn't ignore him. So, media savvy was he that after being confronted by a barbecue wielding union protester out the front of the old AW studios in Bank St he made one more big demand. He asked us to install a landline into his office to conduct live interviews from there. We did it only to regret the decision as Jeff kept dialling in to go on air like some sort of media commentator. At least Victorians knew who he was. Dislikes • Convicted drug and gun criminal Snoop Dogg as the Grand Final entertainment – how does that fit the AFL's family image. • Anthony Albanese promising to recognise a Palestinian State. • Cowardly masked neo-Nazis marching through Melbourne in the dead of night. • ACTU pushing for a four-day week at Canberra's economic roundtable next week. Likes • Reserve Bank cut interest rates for the third time this year. • EV drivers look like being slugged a road user tax – about time. • Ageless Magpie Scott Pendlebury at age 37 going around next year. • Donald Trump doing what our leaders should do cleaning up Washington DC of homeless criminals and drug dealers. Steve Price Saturday Herald Sun columnist Melbourne media personality Steve Price writes a weekly column in the Saturday Herald Sun.
