Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has been unsuccessful in his move to expel Liberal MP Moira Deeming from the parliamentary partyroom for her attendance at an anti-trans rights rally that was also attended by supportive neo-Nazis. Deeming has denied any wrongdoing. Following a meeting that lasted over two hours this morning, the partyroom voted in favour of a nine-month suspension instead.
Deeming attended the “Let Women Speak” rally organised by British anti-trans rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull at Victoria’s Parliament House on March 18. That same weekend, Pesutto announced he had met with Deeming to discuss her part in “organising, promoting and participating in a rally with speakers and other organisers who themselves have been publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.
“At our meeting I informed Ms Deeming that I will move a motion at the next partyroom meeting to expel her as a member of the parliamentary Liberal Party as her position is untenable,” he said at the time, while Deeming insisted: “Nobody endorsed those Nazis. We all condemned them. But nobody listened to what the women actually said.”
Deeming has been a controversial figure for almost the entirety of her time in politics with her hardline social views and particularly her stance on vaccine mandates, reportedly convincing members of former prime minister Scott Morrison’s team that she would prove divisive if she ran in the federal seat of Gorton in 2022. She was then selected to take over from similarly controversial MLC Bernie Finn’s upper house spot following his expulsion in the lead-up to last year’s state election.
The battle over Deeming’s future has been viewed as an early test for Pesutto’s leadership in the Liberals. Pessuto took over from Matthew Guy after a third consecutive loss (and second under Guy) for the party at the hands of Dan Andrews’ Labor. Deeming’s survival of his attempt to have her expelled, albeit via compromise, represents an early blow to his authority.
