Moira Deeming ‘$1m compo’ demand to drop defamation action

Moira Deeming has been accused of attaching a $1m price tag, along with an apology and return to the party, to settle her dispute with John Pesutto.

Senior Liberal sources claim Moira Deeming demanded up to $1m to drop her threatened defamation action against John Pesutto. Picture: Facebook

New hostilities have broken out between John Pesutto and Moira Deeming amid claims she demanded up to $1m to drop her threatened defamation action against the Victorian Liberal leader.

The Australian has been told by senior Liberal sources the seven-figure payment — consisting of compensation and the payment of her legal bills — was in a log of demands that also included an apology and her return to the parliamentary party.

Mrs Deeming, who is threatening to launch defamation action against her former leader within days, has described the $1m claim as “false” and “laughable”.

In a statement released on Monday evening, Mr Pesutto challenged Mrs Deeming over a number of what he claimed were “factual inaccuracies” in her statement earlier yesterday.

“Mrs Deeming’s suspension and subsequent expulsion were never about her views on women’s issues, I have never called Mrs Deeming a neo-Nazi or sympathiser, the issues in this matter have never concerned freedom of speech,” he said.

“The issue has always been whether Mrs Deeming called out or distanced herself from neo-Nazi protesters and references when asked to do so by senior Liberals.”

Mr Pesutto has accepted the Victorian Liberal Party will not bankroll his legal costs in the looming defamation action from Mrs Deeming, leaving the opposition leader facing a potentially massive bill.

While Mr Pesutto has privately conceded the party will not cover his defence, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars if Mrs Deeming was successful, he has not ruled out receiving financial assistance from wealthy individuals to foot the bill.

But in the absence of financial assistance, Liberal sources said Mr Pesutto would cover any legal costs “out of his own pocket”. “He will fund it, if that’s necessary,” the source said.

The prospect of Mr Pesutto funding his own legal defence emerged on Monday after a final attempt at mediation between Mrs Deeming and the opposition leader failed at the weekend.

Mrs Deeming released a statement early on Monday, confirming discussions on Sunday with Mr Pesutto and Victorian Liberal Party State President Phil Davis had broken down.

The MP said the breakdown left her with no option but to push ahead with her threat to sue Mr Pesutto for defamation, and the writ is now expected to be lodged in court within days.

The upper house MP was expelled from the Liberal Party room in May, following a protracted dispute with Mr Pesutto which dates back to her appearance at a “Let Women Speak” rally in March.

“Less than three months into my first term as a Liberal MP, I spoke at a rally to defend the rights of women and girls to single-sex spaces and the protection of sex-based rights,” Mrs Deeming said in a statement on Monday.

“The rally was attended by ordinary people from across the political spectrum.

“Terrifyingly, it was also gatecrashed by groups of masked Neo-Nazi sympathisers and radical activists, resulting in our microphone being broken, myself and another young woman being assaulted, and our rally having to end early due to the inability of police to keep these violent groups away from us.

“Both during and after our rally, I and the organisers publicly condemned the Neo-Nazis, Nazism, anti-Semitism and bigotry of any kind. I did not know those neo-Nazis and did not arrange for them to gatecrash our event.”

Moira Deeming is threatening to launch defamation action against her former leader within days. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Mrs Deeming said she had been called into a meeting the day after the rally “informed by the Liberal Party leadership that if I refused to denounce the ‘Let Women Speak’ rally and its organisers as being extremists and Nazis/Nazi associates, they’d move a motion to expel me from the parliamentary team”.

“Or, I was told, I could ‘just resign and make it easier on everyone.’ I declined,” Mrs Deeming said.

“I was then falsely and publicly accused by the Victorian Liberal leader, Mr John Pesutto, of being a knowing associate of Neo-Nazi sympathisers and extremists, and therefore deserving of expulsion from the Parliamentary Liberal Party.

“Mr Pesutto has denied making these accusations against me. He claims instead that he sought my expulsion because I’m guilty by association with persons, who were themselves guilty by association with neo-Nazism.”