The federal party’s top women’s organisation is calling for Moira Deeming’s reinstatement due to the division that her expulsion from the Victorian Liberal Party’s legislative wing has caused.
Since mid-April, when Ms. Deeming attended a Let Women Speak event that was interrupted by a group of neo-Nazis, the Victorian Liberal Party has been in disarray.
The very next day, Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto demanded the expulsion of the Western metropolitan MP, and while the first vote resulted in a compromise, a second expulsion motion was approved by a vote of 19 to 11 the next day.
The federal women’s committee for the Liberal Party has now demanded that Ms. Deeming’s expulsion be revoked and that Mr. Pesutto apologise.
The motion reads, “The federal women’s committee, as the peak women’s body of the Liberal Party of Australia, is concerned by the actions of Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto MP and the actions taken by some members of the Liberal Victorian parliamentary team.”
“Moira Deeming MLC’s expulsion was without cause. Women have the right to take part in politics without being afraid of being disqualified.
“The Liberal Party cannot support the silencing of women.
The federal women’s committee requests that Opposition Leader John Pesutto MP issue a thorough apology and immediately restore Honourable Member Moira Deeming MLC.
Ms. Deeming stated in response to the news that she was “grateful” for the outpouring of support.
She thanked the Federal Liberal Women’s Committee in a statement, saying, “My husband and I, our four children, as well as all those who have unfairly suffered for attending the legal and peaceful “Let Women Speak demonstration” in Melbourne are extremely extremely grateful.”
The federal vice president of the party, the head of the women’s section in each state and territory, as well as the current and previous presidents of the committee, make up the federal women’s committee.
The proposal was approved, according to The Age, by a single vote, the same margin that decided Mr. Pesutto’s selection as leader after the election in November 2022.
The move is made in advance of this weekend’s Liberal preselection for Melbourne’s eastern Warrandyte seat.
Nine candidates are vying for the preselection, with former IPA executive director John Roskam, former Box Hill candidate Nicole Werner, and KPMG Director Sarah Overton expected to be the front-runners.
The Liberal Party may struggle to hold onto the seat, which it now controls with a margin of 4.2%, as the most recent Resolve Strategic poll shows the state opposition with a primary vote of just 23%. Losing an election could be the turning point that brings Mr. Pesutto’s presidency to an end.
The Liberal Party’s treatment of Ms. Deeming continues to get media attention.
Multiple defamation letters have been sent to Mr. Pesutto by the upper house MP, and on June 8 she informed Peta Credlin that she anticipated the matter would end up in court.
It just seems inevitable that this will go to court, she said, adding that herself, her family, the Liberal party as a whole, and Victorians who need a strong opposition were all affected.
He has made it quite obvious that he believes he has done nothing wrong and is willing to challenge it in court, according to what I understand through my lawyers.
The Victorian Liberal leader is accused in the third defamation concerns notice, which was given in the second week of June, of making “seriously defamatory” remarks about Ms. Deeming, including calling her a “Nazi sympathiser and Nazi associate.”
Before someone can be legally sued for defamation, defamation notices must be sent out.
When the third notice was sent, Ms. Deeming told The Australian that it was “intended to give Mr. Pesutto 28 days to make an offer of amends in respect of the defamatory statements and imputations he published about me.”
Mr. Pesutto has not yet withdrew them or offered an apology to me. He promised to clear me, which he never did, in return for my consent to the initial 9-month punishment, she claimed.
According to Ms. Deeming, her solicitors have gathered “a substantial amount of evidence from various witnesses” and have requested that Mr. Pesutto and anyone “who are likely to be subpoenaed” keep any relevant correspondence and papers rather than throwing them away.
“Mr. Pesutto’s conduct and the disgraceful campaign he ran to expel me from the Parliamentary Liberal Party” continue to anger and disturb my family and me, Ms. Deeming stated.
Even the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women and Girls has expressed interest in the issue.
“What particularly caught my attention was that she seems to have been wrongfully labelled a Nazi specifically for voicing her opinions and her worries on the rights of women related to gender, sex, and gender identity. And was also dismissed from the Victorian Liberal Party on the basis of those accusations or grounds,” the UN representative said.
“There are concerns about due process because I haven’t seen that there was a proper investigation into these allegations before she was fired.”
