Former Liberal MP Matthew Bach may have to fly out of UK for Deeming Pesutto defamation battle

Matthew Bach, who quit politics to teach in the UK, may have to fly to Australia to help John Pesutto in his defamation battle against independent MP Moira Deeming.

Moira Deeming and John Pesutto pose for a selfie in February 2023. Picture: Facebook

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto may have to ask his former political ally-turned-schoolteacher Matthew Bach to return to Australia to give evidence in his bid to fight the defamation case brought against him by exiled independent Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

In a case management hearing before the Federal Court in Melbourne on Friday, Mr Pesutto’s lawyer Matthew Collins KC said he wished to call Mr Bach, who quit politics last year to teach at Brighton College in the UK, before the trial via videolink.

Mr Collins and Sue Chrysanthou, representing Ms Deeming, are yet to discuss having the former deputy leader of the upper house as a witness.

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto, second right, at Parliament House in Melbourne in 2022 with new deputy David Southwick, left, Georgie Crozier and Matthew Bach. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

“There would be matters of seeking leave from his job and the logistic arrangements of getting into Australia,” Mr Collins told the court.

Federal Court judge David O’Callaghan, however, expressed his reservations about having Mr Bach appear remotely.

“An issue in my own view about this is that it is undesirable to have the witness appear by video as it makes our jobs as judges harder,” Justice O’Callaghan said.

The parties plan to appear in court the week after next if they are unable to agree on Mr Bach as a witness and how he will front the court.

Mr Collins said that the witnesses in the defamation battle are made up of “overwhelmingly professional people”, including politicians.

Ms Deeming has 21 witnesses listed to give evidence and Mr Pesutto has eight.

The expelled MP is suing Mr Pesutto over his efforts to expel her from the Liberal partyroom, with her case relying on media releases, press conferences and interviews her former boss gave following a Let Women Speak rally in March last year.

The trial is set for September 16 and is expected to run for 15 days.