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October 22, 2026
It’s a familiar feature of successful election campaigns: a leader has a trusted confidant travelling alongside them, offering candid advice, a second opinion and, when things go wrong, a steadying hand.
Anthony Albanese had Mark Butler during last year’s federal campaign, while Scott Morrison had Ben Morton during his surprise 2019 victory.
Now Vic Ink can reveal that Jess Wilson has enlisted one of her closest political allies for the campaign to become Victoria’s next premier.
Federal Liberal senator and shadow defence minister James Paterson will spend much of the campaign on the road with Wilson, acting as a trusted sounding board as she attempts to end Labor’s 12 years in power.
We can also reveal that Angus Taylor’s media director, Kane Silom, has already been seconded to the Victorian Liberals to run the Coalition’s media operation during the campaign.
It’s unusual for a senior federal politician to devote so much time to a state election campaign, but few are better placed than Paterson to play the role of trusted confidant.
He and his wife, Lydia, who serves as Wilson’s deputy chief of staff, have been close friends with the opposition leader for years.
The arrangement gives Wilson someone outside her immediate campaign operation who knows her well enough to offer frank advice, and has the political experience to know when to deliver it.
Paterson also knows a thing or two about what can go wrong on the campaign trail.
He served as Peter Dutton’s campaign spokesman during last year’s disastrous federal election, emerging with his reputation intact despite the Coalition’s crushing defeat.
His media performances were widely praised, even as the campaign around him unravelled.
The Liberal Party’s own review of the 2025 defeat criticised the absence of a parliamentary colleague travelling with Dutton, arguing it had deprived him of someone who could provide frank feedback on his daily performances.
Paterson will now find himself filling precisely that role for Wilson.
His involvement also reflects just how seriously the federal Liberals are taking the Victorian election, with the result carrying implications well beyond the state’s borders.
For a federal Coalition struggling to rebuild after last year’s election defeat, and facing the added threat of Pauline Hanson’s One Nation, a change of government in Victoria will give them hope that all is not lost.
A fourth consecutive Labor victory, on the other hand, would leave federal Liberals confronting another uncomfortable round of questions about the party’s existence.
Either way, Paterson has more than a passing interest in the outcome.