Independent-Liberal MP Moira Deeming opens up on ‘public stoning’

The controversial MP was booted from the parliamentary party room after she attended an anti-transgender rally.

Embattled Victorian MP Moira Deeming has opened up about the “public stoning” she received from the community after her controversial appearance at an anti-transgender rally earlier this year.

Ms Deeming was expelled from the parliamentary party room in May after Liberal leader John Pesutto claimed she brought the party into “disrepute” by her actions.

She vigorously denies such claims and has sent three concerns notices to the Liberal leader, informing him that she intends to commence defamation proceedings against him.

The controversy erupted after Ms Deeming’s controversial attendance at a Let Women Speak rally alongside Kellie-Jay Keen, a British far-right figure and anti-transgender activist.

The now-independent Liberal MP appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference at The Star Convention Centre, where she told the crowd she was the first MP in history who refused to quit their body after being expelled from the parliamentary team.

“Six months ago I attended a Let Women Speak event on the steps of Parliament House in Victoria … it was an open mic event where women are invited to speak about the harms they’ve suffered,” she told the crowd in Sydney on Saturday.

Victorian MP Moira Deeming opened up about her ‘public stoning’ after she was expelled from the Liberal Party at the CPAC Conference in Sydney. Moira Deeming MLC. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

“Because of the extreme transgender ID laws that are being enforced all around the world, we had to be protected,” she claimed.

The same rally was attended by neo-Nazis who performed salutes and clashed with transgender activist groups protesting Ms Keen’s appearance.

Ms Deeming said that group did not “stand with” her and she had no association with them, but rather they mocked her and threatened the group she was representing.

She said she and her organisers condemned the neo-Nazis and asked the police to force them to leave the event, but despite that Ms Deeming was told by her Liberal leader she must publicly condemn the organisers of the rally as neo-Nazis and transphobes.

“They were going to move a motion to expel me from their MP team, and after that, they would recommend I get expelled from the Liberal Party entirely,” Ms Deeming said.

“Generously, as some would say, they offered me the option to resign and make it easier on everyone. I said no, thank you, and I stood up and I left.”

The now-independent Liberal MP appeared at the Conservative Political Action Conference at The Star Convention Centre. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Simon Bullard

Ms Deeming said she had no idea what the consequences would be, describing her attack in the media as a “public stoning that is still going on to this day”.

She told the conference her own leadership team had characterised her as a “wilful associate of Nazis”, which she vigorously denied.

“It was immediately open season against Moira Deeming MP,” she said.

“Within 24 hours my face and name became synonymous with Nazism in news stories all over the world, so you can imagine the social media storm and the hate mail that began to roll in.”

She explained how she had her privacy invaded at her home as “males with cameras” hid in the dark to get a photo of her.

The MP said she began to also receive verbal abuse as she walked the street.

“It was humiliating and degrading and totally unjust,” Ms Deeming said.

Ms Deeming has issued Mr Pesutto with three defamation notices since she was expelled from the party.