Rear Window

Controversial MP’s supporters storm Liberal election

Do the Liberal Party’s rank-and-file members have a problem with Moira Deeming? Judging by recent polls: hardly.

Myriam RobinSenior writer

Jul 18, 2025 – 5.00am

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The Victorian Liberal Party is faced with a prodigiously unpopular state Labor government. And yet, it cannot seem to manoeuvre itself into electability.

Party moderates and elders hold firebrand upper house MP Moira Deeming and her successful defamation suit against ex-party leader John Pesutto responsible. Deeming’s attendance at a controversial rally gate-crashed by neo-Nazis, and Pesutto’s subsequent (and reversed) decision to expel her from the party room has ripped the party apart.

Myriam Robin is a senior writer based in the Melbourne newsroom. She has previously been a Rear Window columnist and editor, and before that reported on financial markets and media.