Exiled MP Moira Deeming takes early win in defamation case against Opposition Leader John Pesutto

The first judgment in Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s defamation trial has been handed down, with the MP he exiled from his partyroom last year taking the win.

The first judgment in Opposition Leader John Pesutto’s defamation trial has been handed down, with exiled Liberal Moira Deeming taking the win.

Federal Court judge David O’Callaghan on Thursday dismissed a bid by lawyers for Mr Pesutto to have a key witness, former senior Liberal Matt Bach, testify via video link from his home in the UK.

Justice O’Callaghan — who has made no secret of his preference that witnesses give evidence in person in his courtroom — also ordered Mr Pesutto pay Mrs Deeming’s legal costs over the fight to force Dr Bach back to Melbourne.

It means Dr Bach must either return to give evidence during the three week trial, which is set to begin on September 16, or Mr Pesutto’s lawyers can choose not to rely on his evidence, remove his affidavits from their case, and block any ability to have him called and cross examined as a witness.

Leader of the Opposition John Pesutto expelled Moira Deeming from his partyroom after she attended a rally on the steps of parliament that was crashed by neo-Nazis last year. Picture: NCA NewsWire

Such a move was foreshadowed by Mr Pesutto’s lead lawyer, Matt Collins, during a hearing earlier this week in which he told the court Dr Bach’s evidence wasn’t crucial to the case.

As a member of the party’s leadership team in March last year, Dr Bach was present at a key meeting with Mrs Deeming the day after she attended the now infamous Let Women Speak rally that will be central to the trial.

It was Mrs Deeming’s attendance at the event, which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, which ultimately led to moves to expel Mrs Deeming from the party because of claimed links to Nazis.

Moira Deeming’s attendance at last year’s Let Women Speak rally saw her expelled from the Liberal Party. Picture: Supplied

Dr Bach has written two affidavits in support of Mr Pesutto: the first regarding his relationship and dealings with Mrs Deeming and how he became aware of the events of the Let Women Speak rally, and the second responding to Mrs Deeming’s account of the crucial leadership meeting.

Lawyers for Mr Pesutto argued it would have been costly and disruptive to force Dr Bach’s attendance in court, despite the fact he would be visiting China for 10 days as part of a marketing exercise for his school about the time of the trial.

Opposition leader John Pesutto with former Liberal Matthew Bach in 2022. Picture: NCA NewsWire

But Justice O’Callaghan said they had failed to point to convincing reasons why the cross-examination of Dr Bach should be permitted to occur other than in person.

“I accept that Dr Bach’s absence for a further period of five days (further to the China trip, that is) will likely cause some disruption to his pupils at the school and will inconvenience his wife and small children,” he said.

“But in the scheme of things, I do not give those matters significant weight — including because Dr Bach must have known in May when he swore his first affidavit that there was a likelihood that he would have to attend the trial in September in person, that certain inconvenience would be caused to his students and family as a result, and that he would need to make arrangements accordingly.

“The additional costs involved in having Dr Bach attend in person, though not trifling, are, as Dr Collins said, “not sheep stations” in the context of a three-week trial, where both sides are represented by senior and junior counsel and well-resourced solicitors who specialise in defamation law.”

Mr Pesutto accused Ms Deeming of having Nazi links. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

As part of his campaign to expel her Mr Pesutto compiled and distributed a 15-page dossier of evidence backing his case.

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 later expelled from the party.

Dr Bach abruptly quit politics at the end of last year, surprising his colleagues, to return to a career in teaching with a position as assistant headmaster at the UK’s Brighton College.