Nazi bombshell in Pesutto-Deeming defamation trial

A Victorian Liberal MP claims his leader, John Pesutto, alleged in a phone call his then colleague Moira Deeming organised for Nazis to attend a Let Women Speak rally.

Moira Deeming, left, and Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto. Picture: NewsWire / Aaron Francis

A Victorian Liberal MP has sensationally claimed his leader, John Pesutto, alleged in a phone call his then colleague Moira Deeming organised for Nazis to attend a Let Women Speak rally, in a major development a day out from the Opposition Leader taking the stand.

The second week of the Federal Court defamation action began with evidence from Kim Wells, the former state treasurer and “confidante” to Ms Deeming, who is suing Mr Pesutto over his efforts to expel her from the party room, and over allegations that he falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser.

Mr Wells told the court on Monday that a day after the March 18 Melbourne Let Women Speak event was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis, Mr Pesutto phoned him to tell him that it was the exiled MP who organised for Nazis to attend.

“Mr Pesutto had told me she had organised the Nazis to attend,” Mr Wells said.

In a heated cross-examination, Mr Wells recognised that Mr Pesutto had never repeated the claim publicly, prompting the Liberal leader’s barrister Matthew Collins KC to suggest the MP’s recollection of events was “quite flawed”.

Victorian Liberal MP Kim Wells.

“That would be incorrect,” Mr Wells said.

The evidence is the first time it has been alleged that Mr Pesutto had tried to accuse Ms Deeming of directly working with neo-Nazis, with his defence documents stating that he has “repeatedly and unequivocally acknowledged publicly that he does not believe Deeming to be a neo-Nazi, a white supremacist, or anything of similar substance”.

The court heard that at the March 27, 2023 partyroom meeting called to move the motion to expel Ms Deeming, a compromise involving a nine-month suspension was reached.

Ms Deeming was later expelled in May.

Mr Wells said he believed the purpose of the compromise was for a “full exoneration” of the now independent MP and to “save Mr Pesutto’s leadership”, and that a joint media release would achieve these goals.

However, the court heard there was confusion in the partyroom on whether a joint statement between Ms Deeming and Mr Pesutto would be released or a statement from Ms Deeming released by the leadership team.

Mr Wells said there was “no question” a joint statement was the intention.

Mr Collins put to the witness that his client had “at no time” said to the partyroom that Ms Deeming was entitled to a full exoneration.

“He said it to me,” he responded, before ultimately conceding Mr Pesutto did not relay that message to the wider partyroom.

“What Mr Pesutto said to me and what Mr Pesutto said to the partyroom, they’re two very different things.

“We knew we’d been double-crossed.”

Mr Collins put to the witness that he had acted as a “confidante and adviser” to the MP, with Mr Wells responding that deputy Liberal leader David Southwick asked Mr Wells to be a mentor to Ms Deeming.

The court heard the senior Liberal, along with MP David Hodgett and former colleague Ryan Smith, acted as a “conduit” between Ms Deeming and Mr Pesutto during negotiations over the expulsion motion.

Mr Hodgett, Mr Smith, and Liberal MP Joe McCracken also gave evidence on Monday.

Mr Collins took the witnesses through the 15-page dossier circulated by the state opposition leader as part of his efforts to expel the MP which contains videos, social media screenshots, and media reports, including footage of Ms Deeming appearing alongside British activist Kellie Jay-Keen at the Let Women Speak rally.

Interviews featuring Ms Keen and a right-wing Youtuber, as well as a picture of her and a Norwegian neo-Nazi Hans Jorgen Lysglimt Johansen, are among the other resources included in the dossier which purported to justify the claim in the motion to expel that she was associated with “far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.

Mr McCracken said that he recalled looking at some links but that he could not remember what he clicked on.

Asked if he sought out a specific video, the MP responded: “No, I didn’t know that was an expectation.”

The Liberal leader’s barrister also questioned the MPs on the correspondence they received announcing Mr Pesutto’s intent to move a motion to expel Ms Deeming.

Under cross-examination, Mr Hodgett gave evidence that he was “inundated” with about 100 messages from the public.

He said about 97 per cent of the messages were critical of Mr Pesutto.

Mr Smith gave evidence that it was “difficult” to draw comparisons between Ms Deeming’s expulsion and that of Bernie Finn. 

Then state Liberal leader Matthew Guy expelled the former upper house MP in 2022 after he made posts on social media stating he was “praying” for abortion to be banned in Australia and declared that rape victims should not be given access to abortion.