Moira Deeming to include Deputy Leader of the Opposition David Southwick in defamation case
Exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming will expand her defamation case against Opposition Leader John Pesutto to include his deputy, David Southwick, sparking concerns over the party’s leadership.
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Exiled Liberal MP Moira Deeming is set to expand her defamation case against Opposition Leader John Pesutto to now include his deputy, David Southwick.
The move has prompted concern within the party about the duo’s ability to focus on the leadership while defending a potentially lengthy court fight.
Lawyers for Mrs Deeming sent Mr Southwick a concerns notice this week making clear they planned to issue formal proceedings for an action to run concurrently with Mr Pesutto’s case.
The case against Mr Pesutto centres on efforts to expel Mrs Deeming from the parliamentary team after she attended a Let Women Speak rally in March.
It will rely on media releases, press conferences and interviews Mr Pesutto gave in the days following the rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
It will also draw upon a dossier Mr Pesutto’s office circulated to MPs and the media in seeking support to expel her from the state Liberal Party room, and utterances he has since made to try to justify his actions.
Lawyers for Mrs Deeming have accused Mr Southwick of engaging in “an intense and relentless publicity campaign against her.”
They said they had been instructed to commence formal proceedings against Mr Southwick “as soon as possible”.
Letters have also been sent to Leader of the Opposition in the upper house Georgie Crozier, her now retired former deputy Matt Bach and media director Nick Johnston.
They have each been put on notice about retaining records of relevant material for the purpose of proceedings.
As part of any formal case against Mr Southwick it will be argued that because he is Jewish it added to the leadership team’s authority of the accusations against Mrs Deeming.
Multiple efforts to settle the dispute with Mr Pesutto out of court have been unsuccessful.
The case could prove fatal to Mr Pesutto’s leadership, with senior party figures concerned about the impact it is having on his ability to do the job.
Senior Liberals have been desperate for Mr Pesutto to deal with the matter privately and avoid a public legal fight in which MPs and key officials from his leader’s office could be called to testify.
Text messages and emails from key staff could also be central to the case, sources said.
However, Mr Pesutto has repeatedly said he was confident the matter would never get to court.
There are concerns the matter is distracting from the work of the opposition more broadly.
Critics have accused his office of being too focused on both the pending court action, and internal matters, instead of party political matters.
In recent weeks talk about a potential leadership change has intensified within the parliamentary team, however most agree there is no obvious successor.
Mr Pesutto moved to expel Mrs Deeming in March after she attended the Let Women Speak rally on the steps of Parliament House.
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 nine-month ban from the partyroom.
She was later expelled from the party.
Mrs Deeming’s lawyers argue the impact of Mr Pesutto’s public statements about Mrs Deeming “caused hateful conduct by members of the public, including vandalism of Deeming’s Electorate Office sign with ‘Nazi Bigot’ written across her face, retraction of official MP invitations from community functions, social media reactions, threats, jibes, hatred, harassment, abuse, contempt and ridicule through emails, letters and voicemails to Deeming and on social media.”
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