John Pesutto fires warning shot at Moira Deeming
Less than 24 hours after Moira Deeming was suspended from the Victorian Liberal Party, she is already under scrutiny over her public comments.
Suspended Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming is already on notice of expulsion over her social media activity and apparent contradictions in her public statements.
Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto on Tuesday put Ms Deeming on notice after the upper house MP denied condemning activists Kellie-Jay Keen and Angie Jones and former Liberal candidate Katherine Deves.
Mr Pesutto made clear that any return to the partyroom was conditional on how Ms Deeming behaved and that she was on effective probation until her nine-month suspension ends.
“She’s out of the partyroom as we speak and it’s up to her to prove she’s worthy of re-entering the partyroom at the expiration of nine months,” the Liberal leader told the ABC.
“What I would say is that if there are tweets going out that in any way contradict the assurances, the representations, that Moira has provided to the partyroom, that would obviously be a serious matter for the partyroom but Moira has nine months to prove herself and it’s up to her.
“Her future is in her hands.”
Ms Deeming made an emotional appeal to her colleagues on Monday, drawing on highly traumatic aspects of her childhood, to explain her activism for women’s rights such as safe bathroom spaces.
I never said those things anywhere.
— Moira Deeming MP (@MoiraDeemingMP) March 27, 2023
Don’t worry, I never condemned you, or KD or KJ.
— Moira Deeming MP (@MoiraDeemingMP) March 27, 2023
Her campaigning became bogged down in controversy after neo-Nazis gatecrashed a rally she helped organise with Ms Keen, who has been linked to far-right organisations. Ms Keen denies any support for the far right.
Ms Deeming tweeted on Monday night her support for the three activists and wrote to Ms Jones: “Don’t worry, I never condemned you, or KD or KJ.”
However, her response to the motion to expel her from the partyroom makes a series of concessions, including condemning Ms Keen’s use of a Barbie doll wearing a Nazi uniform as her profile picture and condemning the use by Ms Jones of a Nazi analogy.
She also conceded that she may have erred by attending the contentious rally with Ms Keen.
“I admit that with the benefit of hindsight of what has occurred that my participation may have been an error of judgment that resulted in unneeded scrutiny,” Ms Deeming wrote.
Mr Pesutto compromised and only suspended Ms Deeming from the Liberal partyroom after an MPs’ revolt, triggered at least in part by the upper house conservative’s emotional appeal to colleagues. Liberal MPs said the meeting was “highly emotional” and “full of tears” when Ms Deeming recounted her past.
Mr Pesutto had insisted that Ms Deeming be expelled for failing to swiftly condemn the presence of neo-Nazis on the steps of parliament.
In a sharp rebuke of Mr Pesutto’s leadership, MPs said the partyroom atmosphere turned against his hardline position on Ms Deeming, although he still suspended her and removed her as Liberal whip in the upper house.
“He read the room. The room was against him,” a senior Liberal said.
Mr Pesutto emerged after more than two hours of deliberations to announce a compromise suspension had been engineered.
He said this had come after Ms Deeming had made early-morning concessions he had been seeking, but late on Monday Ms Deeming denied having condemned Ms Keen and Ms Jones.
MPs have responded with disbelief that Mr Pesutto’s authority has been so quickly undermined, just months after winning the leadership.
The party is carefully watching the Aston by-election at the weekend to determine what, if any, impact the issue will have.
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