Moira Deeming launches website to fund legal battle against John `Pesutto
The expelled Lib MP’s legal action comes as UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen is poised to file a defamation suit against four Victorian Lib leadership team members.
Expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming launched a fundraising website on Tuesday afternoon, as she prepares to file her defamation case against Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto in the federal court.
The impending legal action comes as UK women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen is expected to file her own defamation suit against all four members of the Victorian Liberal leadership team imminently, the 28 day notice period having elapsed on Monday.
Senior Liberals have for weeks attempted to encourage Mr Pesutto and Mrs Deeming to reach a compromise, but the Australian understands formal mediation has reached an impasse, with Mr Pesutto unwilling to meet Mrs Deeming’s demands.
Mrs Deeming told The Australian she had tried for six months to resolve the dispute outside court.
“I now consider the damage to my reputation and the burden on me and my family have become too much, and will seek public vindication through the courts,” she said.
The website launch comes after former upper house Liberal leader Phil Davis won the ballot to become state party president at the weekend’s party conference by just 11 votes, after being portrayed by factional enemies as being sympathetic to spending party funds on Mr Pesutto’s legal defence.
Mr Davis has not publicly expressed any view on the issue, but given his rival for the presidency – federal vice president Caroline Inge – ran on a platform of refusing to indemnify Liberal MPs, Saturday’s 422-411 vote is being seen as a demonstration among a sizeable proportion of the membership of vehement opposition to party money being spent to assist Mr Pesutto.
Mrs Deeming was expelled from the Liberal partyroom in May following a protracted dispute with Mr Pesutto which dates back to her appearance at a Let Women Speak rally in March.
The rally was organised by Ms Keen’s group, Standing for Women UK, to protest against what Ms Deeming and Ms Keen see as the infringement of transgender self-identification laws upon the rights of women and children.
Transgender rights activists held a counter-protest, and a third group of masked men dressed in black taunted the transgender protesters and performed the Nazi salute on the steps of state parliament.
In seeking to make the case against Mrs Deeming, Mr Pesutto circulated a 15-page dossier of social media screenshots and media reports, mostly relating to Ms Keen, accusing the MP of “organising, promoting and participating in a rally with speakers and other organisers who have been publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists” – claims Mrs Deeming argues are defamatory.
“What happened to me was completely unjust. I deserve to be back in that partyroom. I deserve to have my costs covered. I deserve an apology and I deserve a retraction,” Mrs Deeming said.
“Furthermore, the other women involved in this saga who have also had their lives severely damaged, like me, also deserve to have their names cleared, because the simple truth is that at no stage have the leadership team been able to provide any evidentiary basis whatsoever to justify the statements that were made about us.
“Each one of us has had our personal safety, our mental health, our families and our careers catastrophically harmed.”
On Tuesday afternoon, following extensive legal advice, Mrs Deeming launched the website defenddeeming.com.au, seeking donations from supporters to help her raise $250,000 required to proceed with the defamation case.
The donations will be made as personal gifts to Mrs Deeming rather than political donations, and Mrs Deeming will have to declare the names of all donors who contribute more than $600, but not the amount they donate.
“I’ve made it very clear that this is a private dispute, not a party matter, and I have been on the record from the very beginning saying that I would never dream of accepting, let alone asking for Liberal members to fund the case. I am therefore raising funds privately,” Mrs Deeming said.
Mrs Deeming said she was the sole income earner for her family, which includes her husband, Andrew, and their four children.
“We’ve already spent tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees, trying to have this matter resolved outside of court.”
In a demonstration of the deep divisions within the Victorian Liberal Party over Mrs Deeming’s treatment, her western suburbs branch of the party on Saturday won an award, alongside the party’s Pride branch, for greatest membership growth and retention.
The presentation of the award was cancelled, heading off what would have been a deeply awkward situation requiring Mr Pesutto to present the award to Mrs Deeming’s husband, who was also elected to the Liberal Party state assembly at the weekend’s conference.
More Coverage
China envoy: respect our claims
China’s top diplomat in Canberra has challenged Australia to remedy ‘misunderstandings’ on Taiwan and show ‘respect’ for Beijing’s territorial claims in the South China Sea.
Who will be The Australian’s Australian of the Year?
The Australian is once again asking our readers to nominate the most outstanding Australians of the year: those who have inspired, led by example, helped the vulnerable, and shone in their chosen fields. Who should be named this masthead’s Australian of the Year for 2024?