Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto told MP Moira Deeming that former premier Daniel Andrews could be busted “robbing a 7-Eleven” and voters would still focus on Liberal ties to extremists after she attended an anti-trans rally gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

The comments, secretly recorded by deputy leader David Southwick the day after Mrs Deeming appeared at a Let Women Speak rally at state parliament on March 18 last year, were played to the Federal Court on Tuesday in her defamation trial against Mr Pesutto.