Moira Deeming praises Dutton, condemns Victorian Libs as ‘Labor-lite’, amid talk of Senate tilt

Expelled Victorian Liberal Moira Deeming claims the Victorian opposition will not defeat Jacinta Allan’s Labor government unless it adopts a more muscular conservative agenda, as party insiders reveal they are encouraging her to bid for a spot on the Liberals’ senate ticket.

In her first public comments outside a courtroom room since the start of a defamation case she brought against Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto, Deeming praised federal Opposition Leader Peter Dutton for allowing frontbenchers Jacinta Nampijinpa Price and Claire Chandler to offer their views in contentious debates on transgender issues.

“I believe it’s also proof that if the Liberal Party go all in and fight with conviction and compassion for our values, Australians will … trust us with their future”: Moira Deeming exiting the Liberal party room in March 2023.Credit: Darrian Traynor

She told this masthead that Dutton had shown through his campaign to defeat the Indigenous Voice to Parliament and the freedom he offered gender-critical MPs that it was possible for a Liberal leader to not shy away from contentious debates.

“Peter Dutton has provided a fantastic example of strong and loyal leadership in respecting and protecting the rights of his MPs … to prosecute public arguments on issues that elitist Green, teal, [and] Labor [parties] attack and malign ordinary people … for caring about.

“I believe it’s also proof that if the Liberal Party go all in and fight with conviction and compassion for our values, Australians will recognise that we are fighting for them – and they’ll ignore the election smear campaigns and trust us with their future.”

Deeming is suing Pesutto, who led the push to expel her from the parliamentary Liberal party after neo-Nazis gatecrashed a Let Women Speak rally she had helped organise. She was instead suspended in a last-minute compromise but ultimately expelled weeks later after threatening to bring in lawyers. Deeming alleges Pesutto defamed her as a Nazi, which he rejects.

The high-profile defamation case has won Deeming influential backers such as former prime minister Tony Abbott and his ex-chief of staff Peta Credlin, vaulting her into stardom among some right-wing Liberal supporters and sections of the conservative media.

Recordings of secret meetings aired in court showed that Deeming lobbied Pesutto for the ability to publicly advocate for sex-based rights for women, denying criticism she was transphobic and urging her leader to back her publicly.

Two federal Liberal MPs and several other sources within the party, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters, say Deeming has repeatedly been urged to consider a run for the Senate since she was ousted by her state colleagues.

Despite her expulsion from the Victorian parliamentary party, Deeming reaffirmed her commitment to the Liberals and did not rule out a tilt at federal politics, saying “I don’t know what my future holds”.

“I’m a Liberal MP,” she said. “This is my party, I believe in our party and I’m not going to stop helping, no matter what happens to me.”

There are no party rules preventing an MP expelled from the Victorian parliamentary party from nominating for federal parliament, though the move would be considered inflammatory by many in the party, given her public stoush with Pesutto.

Animosity between state and federal Liberals has already been exacerbated by the Deeming lawsuit, with federal MPs worried the judgement – likely to be delivered in December – might trigger more leadership tension in Victoria in the lead-up to a federal election.

The latest Resolve Political Monitor, conducted exclusively for this masthead, put support for the Coalition at 37 per cent – 10 points ahead of the Allan government. It ranked Pesutto just one point shy of Allan as preferred premier, although he was once again forced to address leadership rumblings earlier this month.

That result would have the Coalition neck-and-neck with the Allan government after preferences, with two years until the next state election.

Deeming said Victorians were living in a poorer state because of Victorian Labor’s “socialist” policies but argued the Coalition would only win if it courageously stood up for its values and avoided a Labor-lite approach, in a swipe at Pesutto’s more centrist approach.

“Our time-tested Liberal Party platform really is the answer to a better life for everyone, rather than relying on polls and a watered-down, ‘modernised’ version of Labor’s platform,” she said.

Her remarks about the Victorian Liberals, who right-wingers say are meek and moderate, echo those of Dutton, who said in September that Pesutto should be much further ahead and the party should avoid a “Labor-lite” model.

Conversely, moderates argue the Liberal-National Coalition has won only one Victorian election in more than two decades when an urbane moderate Ted Baillieu led it to victory in 2010.

Liberals who would like to see a new Victorian leader say they are not currently agitating for his removal, partly because alternative party leaders – Brad Battin, Sam Groth, James Newbury and Brad Rowswell – are not viewed as compelling prospects.

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