Liberal MP Moira Deeming to face expulsion attempt at special party room meeting

Controversial Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been accused of “bringing discredit on the parliamentary party” but she’s fired back in an email to colleagues.

Liberal MP Moira Deeming has demanded to know the evidence behind a planned second attempt to expel her from the party.

Five MPs, including former leader Matthew Guy, have flagged moving an expulsion motion against Mrs Deeming at a special partyroom meeting on Friday.

The have accused Mrs Deeming of “bringing discredit on the parliamentary party.”

But in an email to colleagues on Sunday, Mrs Deeming requested evidence for the move.

“Could I please have a copy of the alleged conduct being referred to as evidence that I’ve the party into disrepute?” she wrote.

Moira Deeming has emailed colleagues requesting evidence for the expulsion motion. Picture: Luis Ascui

Ahead of an initial vote to expel her in March, Opposition Leader John Pesutto provided MPs with a 15-page dossier of evidence to back the move.

He had accused Mrs Deeming of “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the Parliament or the Parliamentary Party.”

Some Liberal MPs have been privately questioning on what basis a second attempt to expel Mrs Deeming from the party was being made.

However, sources backing the move are confident they have at least 22 votes of the 31 member partyroom, more than enough to pass the motion.

It would force Mrs Deeming, a Western Metropolitan Region upper house MP, permanently onto the crossbench.

She is currently serving a 9-month suspension after successfully striking a deal to avoid an earlier vote to expel her.

It was prompted by her attendance at a Let Women Speak rally that was subsequently gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Ms Deeming is facing another expulsion vote. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

On Thursday she threatened legal action after Mr Pesutto refused to publicly exonerate her from claims she was linked to neo-Nazis.

Mrs Deeming said it breached the terms of her suspension from the party, and negotiations to bring the matter to a head failed.

But she sensationally backflipped on the threat just two days later, after the prospect of a renewed expulsion motion was mooted.

“All I have ever wanted, since the leader’s failed attempt to have me expelled for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared,” she said.

“I have never once considered suing the Liberal Party and reports that I have, or had planned to do so, are false.

“It is important to clarify here that I only contemplated legal assistance (eg mediation) as a way of helping me negotiate to settle the conditions of my suspension and to see what was agreed in the partyroom in March honoured.

“To date, others, acting on my behalf, have been working with the Liberal Leadership team to help resolve this issue, but to no avail.”

Mrs Deeming had also considered defamation action against Mr Pesutto.

Mr Pesutto has confirmed he would back the move to expel Mrs Deeming.

He admitted there was “growing concern” within the Liberal Party about the impact of the Moira Deeming scandal.

But Mr Pesutto refused to say whether he believed the rogue MP needed to have her Liberal Party membership revoked entirely.

This would have to be carried out by the administrative arm of the Victorian Liberal Party.

Mr Pesutto, who has received a notice of motion from five MPs seeking the expulsion, said it showed a wider feeling within the party about the need for the matter to come to an end.

“What those five members of the party have done reflects the concerns that many in the partyroom including myself share about needing to resolve this matter,” he told the media on Sunday.

“There is a sense now that we’ve got to deal with this quickly.

“I know there is growing concern in the organisation that this is now the second time that this matter has come before the partyroom.

“I expect there will be some organisational response to that as well – but I’ll leave that to the organisation.”

His comments come after the Herald Sun revealed rogue Liberal MP Moira Deeming would face a second expulsion attempt at a special partyroom meeting on Friday. 

The move, confirmed with multiple Liberal sources, comes despite a retraction of a legal threat by Mrs Deeming in a statement on Saturday.

The motion will be moved by James Newbury, Matthew Guy, Cindy McLeish, Roma Britnell and Wayne Farnham.

As the MPs prepared to push ahead with a fresh motion to expel her from the party, Mrs Deeming issued a statement on Saturday which appeared an attempt to derail the move.

Mrs Deeming had accused leader John Pesutto of reneging on a key part of a compromise deal that saw her accept a nine-month suspension over expulsion six weeks ago.

She threatened legal action after Mr Pesutto’s refusal to publicly exonerate her from claims she was linked to neo-Nazis.

Mrs Deeming said it breached the terms of her suspension from the party, and negotiations to bring the matter to a head failed.

But on Saturday she said minutes published from the partyroom meeting in which she was suspended made it clear “no one was accusing (me) of being a Nazi or a Nazi sympathiser”.

“And even though Liberal leader, John Pesutto MP, never made the joint statement that the meeting agreed he should, he did say publicly on Thursday that nothing in the dossier ever accused (me) of being a Nazi or herself having Nazi sympathies,” she said.

“All I have ever wanted, since the leader’s failed attempt to have me expelled for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared.

“I have never once considered suing the Liberal Party and reports that I have, or had planned to do so, are false.

“It is important to clarify here that I only contemplated legal assistance (eg mediation) as a way of helping me negotiate to settle the conditions of my suspension and to see what was agreed in the partyroom in March honoured.

“To date, others, acting on my behalf, have been working with the Liberal leadership team to help resolve this issue, but to no avail.

“Moreover, when I was told on Thursday night that the leadership team had rejected my request for a legally mediated re-do of the meeting to properly settle the conditions of my suspension, I immediately advised the Victorian Liberal Party President, Mr Greg Mirabella, that I would pursue it no further.”

The Herald Sun has confirmed Mrs Deeming had threatened defamation action against Mr Pesutto.

“Thankfully, it is now clear from the published minutes that the original expulsion motion was never formally put to the partyroom,” she said.

“I consider this fact vital, because it proves that my suspension is unconnected to the expulsion allegations. These minutes afford me the full, official, written, public exoneration that the leadership seems unwilling to provide.

“The past six weeks have taken a terrible toll on me personally. I have had to publicly disclose childhood sexual abuse and endure constant media attacks while remaining silent.

“At all times I have tried to work through internal processes to resolve these issues and declined to air public criticism of the Liberal Party.

“Now, I am moving on.

“I was elected as a Liberal; I remain a proud Liberal; and I look forward to rejoining the party room at the end of the year.”

Originally published as Liberal MP Moira Deeming to face expulsion attempt at special party room meeting