Latest news with #PhilipDavis
SBS Australia
12 hours ago
- Business
- SBS Australia
Moira Deeming, John Pesutto urged to 'smell the roses' after party grants bankruptcy bailout
A $1.5 million loan has been granted to former Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto, with the fractured party desperate to draw a line under a long-running defamation saga. The Victorian Liberals' administrative committee met on Thursday night and agreed to lend former leader John Pesutto $1.55 million to settle his debt to first-term MP Moira Deeming. The Hawthorn MP was ordered to pay $2.3 million in legal costs to Deeming after the Federal Court found he defamed her by implying she was associated with neo-Nazis. Pesutto, who has already coughed up $315,000 in damages, had only raised about $750,000 through wealthy backers and a GoFundMe campaign. An offer to defer some of the legal bill in exchange for Deeming's guaranteed preselection and Pesutto swearing off trying to return as leader for three years was rebuffed. In a letter to party members on late on Thursday, Victorian Liberal president Philip Davis said the money would be paid directly to Deeming. Pesutto will be required to repay the loan at market-rate interest. Davis said the deal would avert a by-election and allow the Liberals' parliamentary party to focus the issues that matter to the Victorian community. Entering parliament on Thursday morning, Pesutto was upbeat about the committee agreeing to his loan request. "Tonight's an opportunity to square (the issue) off and put it all behind us," he said. Deeming, who was expelled from the party room before being welcomed back in December, was sceptical it would end the infighting that has engulfed the party since March 2023. "I assume that they will continue with their quest to try to annihilate me," the upper house MP said. Deeming said the party could "do what they like" but she would take any support of Pesutto as a "direct rebukement (sic)" of the court judgement. Opposition leader Brad Battin attended Thursday night's meeting but would not reveal to reporters how he planned to vote. Battin urged Deeming and Pesutto to "smell the roses" if either woke up on Friday morning unhappy with the outcome. Time is running out for Battin to unite the Liberals before the next state election in November 2026.
ITV News
4 days ago
- Climate
- ITV News
Bahamas PM warns country could be condemed to a 'watery grave' if climate crisis not taken seriously
From above, The Bahamas look like a tropical paradise but the reality on the ground is that they are at risk. 80% of the islands which make up The Bahamas are less than three metres above sea level, making them very vulnerable to climate-induced sea level rise. Severe weather events like hurricanes are also becoming more frequent. In 2019, Hurricane Dorian became the most intense tropical cyclone to ever hit the islands causing 84 deaths and a record $5.1 billion dollars of damage. Faced with the effects of climate change, the Prime Minister of the Bahamas, Philip Davis says he is 'terribly concerned' for the future of his country. Parts of the island he grew up on as a child, have disappeared into the sea already and he fears for the future of his country if world leaders do not step up. 'We have produced the challenges that we face today because of our own conduct and our own action.'There are real issues to be seen if you do not just sit in your ivory tower and talk about these issues.' He is appealing for the world to take the crisis seriously and follow discussions like the annual COP meetings with meaningful action. 'If not, we will be condemned to a watery grave or become climate refugees' he warns.
