Fresh calls for John Pesutto to expel Liberal MPs Moira Deeming

John Pesutto has been urged to try claw back some respect as opposition leader by reigniting his failed bid to expel Moira Deeming from the liberals.

Acting Premier Jacinta Allan has called on John Pesutto to move a new motion to expel controversial MP Moira Deeming from the Liberal Party.

Ms Allan said on Tuesday the result from the party room just 24 hours earlier had shown that the new opposition leader has “absolutely failed” his first test of leadership.

“He’s failed to stand up against hate and bigotry,” she said.

The vote to expel Ms Deeming was abandoned during a marathon two-hour party room meeting on Monday, with a unanimous vote to impose a 9-month suspension on the new MP.

“Quite simply, today, John Pesutto needs to stand up and move again to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal Party party room,” Ms Allan said.

“We have seen the Liberal leader over the past couple of days be absolutely humiliated. Humiliated by his own lies, humiliated by his own party room that remains deeply, deeply divided on these issues. Imagine being divided on whether you stand up against hate or bigotry? That is just unacceptable.

“This is a test of leadership that John Pesutto is comprehensively failing before our very eyes, and if he wants to pass the test, he can move today to expel Moira Deeming from the Liberal Party party room.”

>> READ MOIRA DEEMING’S LETTER IN FULL

It comes after Ms Deeming appeared to contradict claims by John Pesutto that she had made important new concessions to help prevent her expulsion from the Liberal Party room.

The Herald Sun first revealed Ms Deeming worked with lawyers to prepare a comprehensive rejection of the case against her that was emailed to colleagues hours before they met to decide her future with the party.

Her suspension means Ms Deeming will be welcomed back into the Liberal Party room after 9-months unless a new motion to expel her is moved.

Defending the compromise deal, Mr Pesutto said the early morning email contained “important concessions” he had been demanding since flagging his intention to expel her from the party last Sunday.

“Following on from the new materials she supplied early this morning, opened the doorway to a simple proposal which I put to the party room which saw her accept the nine months losing the whip’s position as well,” Mr Pesutto said.

Moira Deeming leaving the party room meeting. Picture: Luis Ascui

“She made those concessions that’s the most important part of this because we want people to understand why we have to call it out when we see it, as for the suspension, that is a serious consequence,” he said.

“That’s what I wanted all along. I wanted it to be condemned, and she’s done that,” he said.

Mr Pesutto had a 15-page dossier of evidence compiled and sent to all MPs to back his case.

He had accused Mrs Deeming of “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the Parliament or the Parliamentary Party.”

Upper house MP Matt Bach, a part of the leadership team, said last week: “there can be no compromise” over the expulsion motion.

But Mr Pesutto said Mrs Deeming had made important concessions he had been demanding since he called her to an urgent meeting last Sunday.

She had repeatedly condemned Nazism and far-Right extremism since the rally, but had refused to specifically condemn organisers of the rally, British activist Kellie-Jay Keen or Angie Jones.

Hours later, she denied on social media that she had condemned either woman.

Mr Pesutto told the ABC there would be consequences if the party room found evidence that “there is a difference between what we were assured in written and oral presentations … and what is being posted on social media.”

In her party room speech, Mrs Deeming also said her beliefs in what she described as women’s rights was driven from personal experience with being raped as child.

John Pesutto leaves the party room meeting. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

The 11th hour email, obtained exclusively by the Herald Sun, appears to simply repeat vehement denials of any wrongdoing and condemnation of neo-Nazis and other far-Right extremists consistently made by Mrs Deeming over the past week.

It also warned the response was prepared with the help of lawyers which party sources said was interpreted as a threat of legal action if the expel motion was upheld.

The comprehensive rebuttal of Mr Pesutto’s claim accused him and fellow leadership team members David Southwick, Georgie Crozier and Matt Bach, of being “deliberately and selectively misleading” in building a case against her.

“The proponents’ serious allegations have not been established and are directly contradicted by the evidence on which they rely,” it said.

“In light of the evidence, the only credible response is to withdraw, or in the alternative, vote against this motion.

“Voting in support of a motion which lacks a real or credible evidentiary basis would bring disrepute upon our Parliamentary Party.”

Multiple sources said Mr Pesutto was doubtful that his motion would succeed ahead of the 10am party room meeting.

However it was during the meeting that it became obvious the motion would fail.

It is understood former Prime Minister Tony Abbott was successful in convincing some backers of Mr Pesutto to flip their votes to Mrs Deeming.

Some MPs had been warned their future preselections would be under threat if they supported the motion.

In light of the backflip, some senior Liberals were privately calling on Mr Pesutto to reconsider his leadership.

They said his authority had been dealt a fatal blow.

Sources said there was little appetite to challenge Mr Pesutto.

“This is a big win for Moira and the new generation of MPs she entered Parliament with,” one source said.

“It demonstrates a fundamental shift in the Party Room away from the group of people who have held the reins for the last couple of decades and presided over repeated electoral losses.”

In a statement, Mrs Deeming said she accepted the suspension and condemned “poor taste Nazi jokes and Nazi analogies listed in the annex of evidence against me”.

“I believe I am innocent of all imputations and accusations of any connection whatsoever with Nazism in any shape or form and any bigotry whatsoever toward the LGBTQI+ community.

Earlier, Mrs Deeming had repeatedly condemned Nazism and far-Right extremism since the rally.

But she had not specifically condemned organisers of the rally, British activist Kellie-Jay Keen or Angie Jones.

“She made those concessions that’s the most important part of this because we want people to understand why we have to call it out when we see it, as for the suspension, that is a serious consequence,” he said.

“That’s what I wanted all along. I wanted it to be condemned, and she’s done that,” he said.

“A nine-month-suspension, losing the whip position … these are serious consequences.”

Multiple party room sources have told the Herald Sun Mr Pesutto only dropped the motion to expel Mrs Deeming because he knew it would be defeated.

She was facing expulsion over alleged links to far-Right extremists that came to light after she attended last weekend’s Let Women Speak rally on the steps of parliament that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Mr Pesutto had a 15-page dossier of evidence compiled and sent to all MPs to back his case.

He had accused Mrs Deeming of “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the Parliamentary Party.”

Mrs Deeming vehemently denied any extremists associations, and has publicly denounced Nazism.

Liberal sources say Mr Pesutto’s position as leader is now untenable.

However he said he had no intention of standing down.

DEEMING SURVIVES EXPULSION PUSH

Opposition leader John Pesutto has buckled to pressure over a bold move to expel outspoken MP Moira Deeming from the party room.

A vote to expel Mrs Deeming was to be put to Liberal MPs at a party room meeting on Monday.

But the vote was avoided during a marathon two-hour meeting, with Mrs Deeming accepting a nine-month suspension from the party instead.

Amid mounting pressure to abandon the vote last week, upper house MP Matt Bach, a part of the leadership team, said: “there can be no compromise”.

The compromise agreement reached on Monday is expected to heap pressure on Mr Pesutto’s leadership.

“John is finished. It’s just a matter of when,” one senior Liberal source who had backed the opposition leader’s move, said.

Moira Deeming arrives ahead of the vote to expel her. Picture: Luis Ascui

MPs started gathering at Parliament House before 7am, with backers of Mrs Deeming working to rally last minute support.

Several sources told the Herald Sun that Mrs Deeming’s backers were not confident going into the meeting.

But following the meeting sources said Mr Pesutto’s motion didn’t have the numbers needed to pass.

MPs have remained uncharacteristically tight-lipped, with no leaks emerging from the party room during the meeting.

Mr Pesutto also refused to answer questions from journalists until a press conference later today.

In a note to colleagues emailed on Sunday afternoon, Mrs Deeming urged them to give her another chance.

“I respectfully write to ask that you vote against the motion to expel me from the Liberal Party Parliamentary team because I am innocent of these charges, I am a brand new MP and deserve the chance to learn from this, and because guilt by various degrees of association is not a standard that any one of us can avoid transgressing,” she said.

“I want you all to know that I have learned many painful lessons from this experience, and that I deeply regret the trouble this has caused my state and federal colleagues and the wider party membership.

“And also, that my offer to publicly back the current leadership team if the vote to expel me fails, still stands.”

Deeming and controversial activist Kellie-Jay Keen.

Mrs Deeming was accused over alleged links to far-Right extremists that came to light after she attended last weekend’s Let Women Speak rally on the steps of parliament that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

Mr Pesutto had a 15-page dossier of evidence compiled and sent to all MPs to back his case for expulsion.

He accused Mrs Deeming of “conducting activities in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the Parliamentary Party.”

Mrs Deeming has vehemently denied any extremists associations, and has publicly denounced Nazism.

“I love the Liberal Party and I truly want to stay part of our Parliamentary team. Regardless of the outcome of this vote, I’ll be keeping my Liberal Party membership and representing us in parliament to the best of my ability,” she wrote to colleagues.

“Although the vote to expel an MP should be based on facts and evidence, I do understand and lament the fact that as a Party we seem to be wedged between two very unpleasant media narratives.

“The first false narrative is that I or the Liberal Party are in any way, shape, or form, directly or indirectly somehow ‘pro-Nazi’, due to my affiliation with the “Let Women Speak” Australia campaign. This accusation is demonstrably false. It has been damaging in the extreme to my reputation and to the Liberal Party brand.

“The second narrative is that the Victorian Liberal Party Parliamentary team is anti-women and anti-free speech for punishing my advocacy and involvement with a legal and mainstream ‘women’s rights’ campaign event, previously attended and supported by other senior female Coalition MPs like Senator Jacinta Price and Senator Claire Chandler.

“I believe that we can take control of this situation and create for ourselves, a third media narrative- one where we avoid both catastrophes and emerge united as a team around the current leadership.”