Court hears new secret tape in Deeming-Pesutto defamation trial

A second secret recording of a closed-door meeting between Moira Deeming and the Liberal Party leadership — recorded the day her emails were exposed in the media — has been played to a court.

Another secret tape of a meeting of Liberal Party leaders with ousted Liberal Moira Deeming about her views on sex based rights has been played to a court in her defamation battle against Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

The tape, recorded by the exiled MP, revealed a closed-door meeting between Mr Pesutto, Georgie Crozier MP and Mrs Deeming the day her emails were exposed in the media through Freedom of Information in February 2023.

Their meeting came weeks before Mrs Deeming helped organise a Let Women Speak rally that was gatecrashed by white supremacists.

She is suing Mr Pesutto for defamation claiming he painted her as a neo-Nazi sympathiser, with Ms Crozier taking the stand in the Federal Court on Thursday.

Former Liberal MP Moira Deeming attends court. Picture: David Crosling

Earlier in the trial, Mrs Deeming’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC accused Mr Pesutto of making a “political move” by using the rally as an excuse to get rid of “a woman who you considered was conservative” and advocated on issues inconsistent with his political message.

“The media want to tear us up big time over the story in the Herald Sun today,” Mr Pesutto told Mrs Deeming in the tape of the meeting with Ms Crozier, on February 23, played to the court.

The news story published that day was titled, “Liberal MP’s ‘extreme’ views exposed in emails” and stated Mrs Deeming’s emails revealed her “extremist views on sex workers and the transgender community”.

“I just don’t think you see what train is coming our way ... we will not be able to talk about any other issues,” said Mr Pesutto, stating he had wanted to get Assistant Treasurer “Danny Pearson on the ropes” over a potential conflict of interest over his bank shares.

“I’m going to have to form my language because it’s going to be one mean press conference, they are going to tear me to shreds ... (ex-Premier Daniel) Andrews has come out calling on me today.”

Opposition Leader John Pesutto with Liberal MP Georgie Crozier. Picture: Nicki Connolly

Mrs Deeming replied her leader “should defend me, I’ve never said anything transphobic or homophobic”.

“If you give any room to the idea I am transphobic I think that will destroy us as a party,” Mrs Deeming replied on the recording.

She offered to “get you a row of lesbians to stand behind you and back you up” in a press conference, and to get parents to defend her.

Mrs Deeming’s emails during her time at Melton City Council between 2020 and 2022 were obtained via FOI by Sex Work Law Reform Victoria.

Mrs Deeming said in the tape that the emails were “not the smoking gun” others suggested.

She said they detailed her views that the rainbow flag shouldn’t be automatically placed under Melton City Council staff’s email signatures, and about rezoning sex work laws that allowed infants in brothels.

“Just because you’re breastfeeding doesn’t mean you would take your baby into a chemical plant,” Mrs Deeming is heard on the recording.

Weeks after the meeting, Mrs Deeming was suspended from the Liberal Party over a rally she helped organise that neo-Nazis gatecrashed and performed repeated offensive salutes on the steps of parliament.

Weeks after the meeting, Mrs Deeming was suspended from the Liberal Party. Picture: Luis Enrique Ascui

‘You can’t skip a party meeting for a hair appointment’

Ms Crozier has slammed Mrs Deeming in court for missing a partyroom meeting to get her hair done weeks before she was suspended from the party over a controversial rally.

During a fiery back and forth between Ms Crozier and Mrs Deeming’s barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC on Thursday, Ms Crozier was asked about evidence she gave in an affidavit over the exiled MP missing a party meeting in the February.

Texts were shown to the court where Mrs Deeming stated she would be late because she couldn’t “shift an appointment I had”.

Ms Crozier said she’d inferred Mrs Deeming needed to take one of her four children to a medical appointment, but “when I inquired about where she was, she was getting her hair done, that was a little surprising for me”.

Ms Chrysanthou put to Ms Crozier that she “scolded” her client for not coming to the meeting after giving her permission to miss it on the day she was due to make her maiden speech to parliament.

Georgie Crozier says she told Mrs Deeming she couldn’t skip a partyroom meeting for a hair appointment. Picture: Valeriu Campan

“I said to her you can’t not come to a partyroom meeting for a hair appointment,” Ms Crozier said.

“Having a hair appointment should not be a priority over attending a party meeting ... so I reject your assertion about scolding her.”

Ms Chrysanthou said “you knew she had four children and it might not be so easy for her to get a hair appointment with four children on the day of her maiden speech.”

“It’s parliament,” Ms Crozier replied, “You don’t get your hair done at parliament.”

“It’s not parliament Ms Crozier, it’s a meeting,” Ms Chrysanthou said.

Ms Crozier replied that partyroom meetings were a priority, and elected MPs must attend them unless for a medical emergency or a funeral, “not for a hair appointment”.

The barrister put to Ms Crozier that she “sought to misrepresent” what had occurred to make Mrs Deeming “look bad” after she’d given her permission then “scolded her like a child”.

“No, I reject your assertions,” Ms Crozier said.

The hearing, before Justice David O’Callaghan, continues