Expelled MP Moria Deeming to meet with Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto

Renegade MP Moira Deeming will sit down with Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto — who she’s suing for defamation — for the first time since being booted from the party.

Opposition Leader John Pesutto and expelled MP Moira Deeming are set to sit down for mediation for the first time since she was booted from the party.

The Herald Sun can reveal the pair are due to face off in person at a formal mediation with their lawyers on Tuesday.

The meeting has been described as a last-ditch attempt to reach an amicable settlement before Mrs Deeming launches formal defamation proceedings.

Court action could force the Opposition Leader and key Liberals to publicly testify about expulsion proceedings against Mrs Deeming.

Key Liberals said such a move posed a greater risk to Mr Pesutto and his leadership team than to Mrs Deeming.

Deeming and Pesutto are planning to hold mediation on Tuesday. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

The Western Metropolitan MP was expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party in May, forcing her onto the crossbench as an independent Liberal.

She has remained a popular member of the broader Liberal Party.

It is understood as part of any potential settlement Mrs Deeming will push for readmission to the parliamentary team.

However Liberal sources said Mr Pesutto told a party room meeting last week he would never agree to such a move.

His position is considered a moot point by some as any decision to allow Mrs Deeming back into the parliamentary team would require a party vote.

Mrs Deeming has issued Mr Pesutto with multiple concerns notices, accusing the leader of humiliating and demonising her in his campaign to expel her.

Pesutto is being sued by Mrs Deeming for defamation. Picture: Mark Stewart

Mr Pesutto moved to expel Mrs Deeming in March after she attended a Let Women Speak rally on the steps of Parliament House.

He later accused her of having links with neo-Nazis.

Mr Pesutto compiled and distributed a 15-page dossier of evidence backing an initial attempt to expel Mrs Deeming.

In it, he accused her of having Nazi links and “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the Parliamentary Party.”

It resulted in a 9-month ban from the party room.

She was expelled after issuing an initial concerns notice against Mr Pesutto.

Deeming with controversial UK activist Kellie-Jay Keen at the Let Women Speak rally. Picture: David Crosling

“On and from 19 March 2023, Mr Pesutto … publicly accused Mrs Deeming, a fellow member of parliament from the same party, of being a Nazi sympathiser and Nazi associate, among other things, in the media, and on that basis threatened and bullied her with expulsion from the parliamentary Liberal Party,” the concerns notice said.

“Mr Pesutto’s accusations were false and seriously defamatory of Mrs Deeming personally and professionally and have caused serious harm to her reputation. She is entitled to substantial damages as a result.

“Mrs Deeming has suffered terribly as a result of Mr Pesutto’s unlawful defamation of her reputation from 19 March 2023 onwards.

“She has been extremely humiliated, abused, vilified, and demonised in the public eye.

“The smearing of Mrs Deeming as a Nazi sympathiser, with firstly the threat of expulsion based on this public smear, and then her actual expulsion from the Parliamentary Party she was elected to represent, evidences the most serious harm to her reputation personally and professionally, which is and will be ongoing unless and until she is vindicated.”

Mrs Deeming has been seeking a public apology and the withdrawal of allegations of any Nazi links without reservation.

Sources close to Mr Pesutto have repeatedly insisted the matter will not get to court.

Originally published as Expelled MP Moria Deeming to meet with Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto