‘Doesn’t deserve leadership’: Deeming defamation case against Pesutto to go ahead next week

The future of Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto is set to be decided in a defamation trial starting Monday.

The future of Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto is set to be decided by a Federal Court defamation case brought next week by high-profile MP and women’s rights activist Moira Deeming.

Senior Liberals are bracing for the trial, expected to last three weeks and involve a series of prominent MPs and advisers.

Ms Deeming is suing Mr Pesutto over his efforts to expel her from the Liberal party room and has enlisted leading defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou and Patrick George to argue her case, which will rely on media releases, press conferences and interviews Mr Pesutto gave in the aftermath of the March 2023 Let Women Speak rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

The legal team will also draw upon a 15-page dossier Mr Pesutto’s office circulated to MPs and the media in seeking support for the expulsion of Ms Deeming.

Mr Pesutto, represented by Matthew Collins KC, argues that Ms Deeming had repeatedly made public statements falsely asserting the state Liberal leader had said she is a Nazi or has Nazi associations “when he has never done anything of the sort”, and that she had likely caused damage to her own reputation.

“People who want to be distracted will be distracted by things,” a senior Liberal source said of the trial to The Australian.

Another source added that former prime minister Scott Morrison did not endorse Ms Deeming “for a reason”.

“I think what’s gone on here is (Moira’s) gone way out of a reasonable zone and consequently it hasn’t worked well for her,” they said.

Independent Liberal MP Moira Deeming is suing her former boss. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

Liberal frontbencher David Davis said he would be watching the case, but would leave the matter to the court.

“And we’ll get on with the tasks that we have at hand,” he said.

Former Victorian premier Jeff Kennett, who is helping financially back the state Opposition Leader’s legal defence, said he would support Mr Pesutto regardless of the trial’s result.

“Politics is a tough game and it is sad when one politician sues another. It’s a waste of time, it’s a waste of energy,” Mr Kennett told The Australian. “I support John Pesutto. I consider this part of his apprenticeship, part of his training for what lies ahead.”

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto at the Liberal Party State Council at Moonee Valley Racecourse this year. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

Indigenous leader and former Liberal candidate Nyunggai Warren Mundine said Ms Deeming is “an asset” to the party.

“(John Pesutto) went from a bloke who could lead the party into government to a person driven by ideological issues,” Mr Mundine said. “The party’s fractured, there’s no doubt about it. Pesutto should be 10 to 15 per cent ahead in polling. He should be sitting in the same situation as David Crisafulli in Queensland.”

The prominent voice referendum No campaigner, who is helping Ms Deeming with her legal costs, said Mr Pesutto “doesn’t deserve his leadership”.

While Mr Pesutto was successful in settling two defamation cases brought against him by activists Kellie-Jay Keen and Angela Jones, on Wednesday he said he had exhausted “all reasonable efforts” to resolve the action launched by Ms Deeming.

The 15-day trial will begin on Monday before Federal Court Justice David O’Callaghan in Melbourne.