By Farrah Tomazin
He has advised two premiers, helped re-write the Liberal Party constitution, and has been behind some of the government's toughest industrial disputes in recent years - including the ongoing brawl with Victorian paramedics. Now, John Pesutto is finally making a tilt for politics at November's state election, taking over one of the city's bluest electorates: former premier Ted Baillieu's.
Two weeks after beating Institute of Public Affairs executive director John Roskam for preselection in the prize seat of Hawthorn, Mr Pesutto – a father of three, industrial lawyer and Premier Denis Napthine's legal counsel – still looks like he is getting used to it.
John Pesutto in the prized Liberal seat of Hawthorn. Credit: Jesse Marlow
After all, he admits, public office has been a long time coming. Five years ago, Mr Pesutto narrowly lost a bruising battle for the federal seat of Kooyong to the man who would later become Tony Abbott's parliamentary secretary, Josh Frydenberg.
In 2012, he tried his luck again – this time in the federal seat of Deakin – but again, he missed out.
This month, he "finally got the nod" with the Liberal Party's administrative committee voting 12-6 in his favour. It was the day before his 44th birthday. Fate has a funny way of rewarding you sometimes.
Mr Pesutto said he was "humbled" to now have a chance to enter Parliament, but admitted there was a certain kind of pressure that comes with standing in such a sought-after, safe Liberal seat, particularly one that has been owned for 15 years by a party stalwart such as Mr Baillieu. "He's very popular in the electorate, so for me as a new candidate, you can't take anything for granted when someone like him is retiring from politics, because there's a great deal of affection to him from locals," he told The Sunday Age over a quiet coffee last week.
"He's been very helpful in his thoughts about how I might plan out the next little while until the election, and I'm sure he'll be there, offering a lot of assistance and counsel over the next few months."
It is the kind of assistance some insiders did not necessarily expect, given recent reports suggesting Mr Baillieu had not returned Mr Pesutto's calls before the preselection vote, fuelling speculation the former premier was trying to quietly pave a way for Community Services Minister Mary Wooldridge to succeed him.
Ms Wooldridge did not run in the end, and Mr Pesutto won't be drawn on those reports, other than to say his relationship with Mr Baillieu is still "very good". As the former premier's industrial adviser, he recalls being there on the night Mr Baillieu stood down – "it was really tough for everybody on his staff" – but he is full of praise, too, for the way Mr Napthine has handled the top job ever since: "He has this energy – you feel it when you're working in the office; he's moving; he's making decisions; he gets things done. It's infectious."
Those who know Mr Pesutto will tell you he is smart, dedicated and potential ministerial material. Mr Napthine describes him as a bloke of "great integrity", pointing out that he has "provided invaluable contributions to every state and federal [Liberal] campaign since 1993".
He has also been behind the Coalition's trickiest industrial disputes, including wage deals with police, teachers and nurses. Each has been challenging, he said, but the paramedics dispute was probably the most "frustrating".
"The biggest problem is that the union won't take yes for an answer," he said. "Our suspicion for a long time has been that the union didn't want to do a final deal and that they wanted to string it out until the election and make something of it. That's really disappointing."
Whether the unions actively campaign in Hawthorn is yet to be seen. Regardless, Mr Pesutto is just happy to have his chance.