Appalling treatment of Moira Deeming by Vic Libs cost the Coalition Aston, John Howard says

John Howard blames John Pesutto’s handling of expelled MP Moira Deeming for the party’s devastating by-election defeat.

Expelled Liberal Party MP Moira Deeming. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

John Howard has blamed Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto’s handling of expelled MP Moira Deeming for the party’s loss of the by-election for the federal seat of Aston, describing the behaviour of Liberals in the southern state as “appalling”.

Speaking at a Liberal event in Queensland, the former prime minister said he was confident the party would not suffer the same fate in the Gold Coast seat of Fadden, being vacated by former minister Stuart Robert.

Labor’s Mary Doyle won the outer eastern Melbourne seat of Aston, previously held by former minister Alan Tudge, four days after Mrs Deeming was suspended from the parliamentary Liberal Party after speaking at a “Let Women Speak” rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

“You’d have to be indifferent to what’s going on not to realise that in the lead-up to that by-election, the behaviour of our colleagues in Victoria was appalling,” the Gold Coast Bulletin has reported Mr Howard as telling the party faithful, to rousing applause and cries of “hear, hear”.

“Why we chose to pick on one of our own, who was really demonstrating what all of us think is self-evidently the case.

Former prime minister John Howard. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Damian Shaw

“There are certain biological fundamentals that we’re all very familiar with, and I won’t go into any detail, or offer any definitions of my own.

“Heavens above, sometimes you have to sort of scream for common sense.”

The March rally Mrs Deeming attended was organised by British feminist activist Kellie-Jay Keen’s group Standing for Women UK, which campaigns against what its supporters see as the infringement of transgender rights upon those of women and children. Transgender rights activists held a counter-protest, and a third group, of masked men dressed in black, joined the fray and performed the Nazi salute on the steps of state parliament.

Mrs Deeming is now suing Mr Pesutto for defamation after being expelled from the parliamentary Liberal Party last month, alleging the Opposition Leader accused her of being a “Nazi sympathiser and Nazi associate”, and used that as a basis to “threaten and bully” her.

Mr Howard was attending the launch of “Dignity and Prosperity – The Future of Liberal Australia”, written by his former Adviser David Stevens, alongside federal Liberal leader Peter Dutton.

The Gold Coast Bulletin reported that the event attracted about 250 party members to the Langham Surfers Paradise ballroom.