Pesutto did not hatch ‘conspiracy’ to get rid of Deeming, court hears

Opposition Leader John Pesutto did not orchestrate a conspiracy or fraud to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal party room under a false pretext, as her legal team has argued, his barrister has told the Federal Court.

Dr Matthew Collins, KC, began his closing submissions for Pesutto on Wednesday in the high-stakes defamation trial the ousted Liberal MP brought against him. She alleges Pesutto defamed her as a Nazi, which he rejects.

Moira Deeming outside court in Melbourne on Wednesday.Credit: AAPIMAGE

He said Pesutto was “uniquely placed to judge the politics of the matter” and that his client was expressing his honest opinion and acting in the public interest in his moves against Deeming.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, finished her closing submissions for Deeming on Wednesday, arguing that Pesutto defamed Deeming as part of a “scheme” to expel her from the party room because he “found it annoying to have to answer press questions about her”.

She said Pesutto believed he lost his seat of Hawthorn at the 2018 election because the opposition had been distracted by “side issues” that were not mainstream concerns and that he decided to use neo-Nazis as a pretext to get rid of Deeming after their presence at state parliament.

Deeming helped organise the Let Women Speak rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament on March 18 last year. Neo-Nazis, whom Deeming has condemned, were among several groups of protesters who arrived that day.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto outside court early this month.Credit: Darrian Traynor

Pesutto moved to expel Deeming from the parliamentary party after the rally. She was suspended instead in a last-minute compromise but was ultimately expelled weeks later after threatening to bring in lawyers.

Chrysanthou told the court that Pesutto misled the public and lied in “a scheme to get rid of someone that was interfering with his plans” and that his push to expel Deeming was “irrational”.

But Collins accused Chrysanthou of making serious allegations that he said impugned not just Pesutto, but the entire Liberal leadership team. However, this was not put to them in cross-examination and had not been thoroughly explored in evidence, he said.

He said they would have had to hatch the “conspiracy” by March 19, 2023 and spend almost two months executing it.

“These are allegations of extraordinary seriousness. They’re allegations of gross dishonesty or fraud,” Collins said.

Collins said the four members of the Liberal leadership team all came to a uniform view about expelling Deeming and publicly explaining it, which he said showed Pesutto was acting reasonably as opposition leader.

“They’re members of the alternative government of the state turning their mind to the political consequences of what happened on the 18th of March [2023],” Collins told the court.

“Your honour might as a citizen come to a different view: ‘That was a bit extreme, you didn’t need to go that far’.

“That’s not the test, the test is whether Mr Pesutto – a person in his position, uniquely placed to judge the politics of the matter – came to the view that it was necessary to explain this decision made at the 19th March [2023] meeting to the public, and if so whether that was objectively reasonable.”

Collins said Pesutto and his most senior colleagues had determined that Deeming’s actions – and inactions – in March last year would cause serious political problems for the opposition.

“That might be unfair, and I might wish for a world in which debate was more nuanced, but that’s not the world we live in,” Collins said.

Collins told the court that the Let Women Speak rally was clearly anti-trans as is UK activist Kellie-Jay Keen, who spoke at it. He said the media had already widely reported that neo-Nazis were there to support the women.

Deeming rejects the neo-Nazis were there to join Let Women Speak and said the men were actually undermining and interrupting them. She also rejects claims the cause is anti-trans.

Collins went on to say that 67 imputations in Deeming’s legal claim were cast too widely and “pitched too highly”, and that none of the journalists who received the media release or observed his press conference went on to report that Pesutto had called her a Nazi.

Start the day with a summary of the day’s most important and interesting stories, analysis and insights. Sign up for our Morning Edition newsletter.