Former Liberal leader John Pesutto pays Moira Deeming $2.3m

Former Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has coughed up his $2.3m legal bill to Moira Deeming, avoiding bankruptcy and preventing a by-election.

Embattled former Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto has avoided bankruptcy after paying out $2.3m to fellow Liberal parliamentarian Moira Deeming.

Mr Pesutto was hit with the whopping legal bill following a high-stakes defamation battle with Ms Deeming in the Federal Court.

Mr Pesutto defamed Ms Deeming in radio interviews, a press conference and in Liberal Party documents by conveying she knowingly associated, or sympathised, with neo-Nazis and white supremacists after she attended a women’s rights rally critical of transgender beliefs in 2023.

Justice O’Callaghan ordered Mr Pesutto to pay $300,000 in damages, and then in March this year, the court ordered him to pay a further $2.3m to cover Ms Deeming’s legal costs.

Mr Pesutto was unable to meet the bill on his own and faced the prospect of bankruptcy.

But in recent weeks he secured a $1.5m loan from the Liberal Party and on Thursday, Sky News reported Mr Pesutto had settled his bill.

The deadline for settlement to avoid bankruptcy was Friday.

Mr Pesutto defamed Ms Deeming in 2023. Picture: NewsWire/Ian Currie

Moira Deeming brought action against Mr Pesutto in the Federal Court. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

The loan is controversial and some Liberal members had threatened legal action to stop the Party from lending Mr Pesutto the money, but the payment pre-empts that challenge.

Mr Pesutto had raised some $770,000 on his own account to meet the bill.

The payment stops a by-election for Mr Pesutto’s marginal inner-eastern Melbourne seat of Hawthorn, which he won in 2022 with 51.7 per cent of the vote after preferences.

Victorian law prohibits bankrupted persons from serving in the parliament.

Ms Deeming has been contacted for comment.

The Deeming-Pesutto furore kicked off after Ms Deeming, a former schoolteacher, attended a Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne in 2023 hosted by British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen, also known as Posie Parker.

The Deeming-Pesutto furore kicked off after Ms Deeming, a former schoolteacher and Liberal member of parliament, attended a Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne in 2023 hosted by British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen, also known as Posie Parker.

Ms Deeming was thrown out of the Liberal Party room after the rally and launched court action against Mr Pesutto on December 5, 2023.

Top defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC represented Ms Deeming throughout proceedings.

The costs order revealed Ms Deeming paid Ms Chrysanthou $800 an hour for preparation, conferences, other attendances, advice and travelling time, $8000 per day in court with a minimum appearance fee of $4000 if the matter concluded before 1pm and a minimum appearance fee of $800 for short appearances.

Ms Deeming speaks at the Melbourne Let Women Speak rally in 2023. Picture: YouTube

“This judgment is a public acknowledgment that there was never any justification – legal, moral or political – for what the Opposition Leader (Pesutto) did to me and to my family,” Ms Deeming said after the ruling.

“The organisers and attendees of the 2023 Melbourne Let Women Speak rally did nothing wrong and it is shameful that they were treated without fairness or respect by so many in public office.

“This judgment is a public acknowledgment that there was never any justification – legal, moral or political – for what the Opposition Leader (Pesutto) did to me and to my family,” Ms Deeming said after the ruling.

“The organisers and attendees of the 2023 Melbourne Let Women Speak rally did nothing wrong and it is shameful that they were treated without fairness or respect by so many in public office.

Originally published as Former Liberal leader John Pesutto pays Moira Deeming $2.3m