‘Misconduct’ finding for former mayor Tony Briffa over Moira Deeming tweet

Former Hobsons Bay mayor Tony Briffa was accused of inferring that Moira Deeming ‘is a Nazi and a bigot who advocates for discrimination against transgendered persons’.

Expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming. Picture: Arsineh Houspian.

The former mayor of a Melbourne council has been found to have engaged in “misconduct” over a tweet in which she described expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming as a leader of a “violent rally” and a “trans/queer hater”.

Hobsons Bay Council, in Melbourne’s inner west, appointed dispute resolution lawyer Jo-Anne Mazzeo to arbitrate after councillor Daria Kellander complained about then mayor Antoinette “Tony” Briffa’s behaviour towards Ms Deeming.

The complaint related to a tweet Ms Briffa issued on March 19, following Ms Deeming’s attendance at a “Let Women Speak” rally which was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.

“@MoiraDeemingMP was one of the leaders of the violent rally outside parliament yesterday. I support free speech, but trans/queer haters, neo-Nazis & “Liberal” politicians jointly spreading hatred & fear is appalling. We are & deserve better than that,” tweeted Ms Briffa, who in 2011 became the world’s first openly intersex mayor. The tweet remained online as recently as Wednesday.

Ms Deeming is suing Opposition Leader John Pesutto for defamation over his depiction of her attendance at the rally, which was organised by British women’s rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen and her group Standing for Women UK to protest against what Ms Deeming, Ms Keen and their fellow protesters 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.

Ms Deeming has always maintained that she has no association with the neo-Nazis.

Hobsons Bay councillor and former mayor Tony Briffa.

Ms Mazzeo made a finding of misconduct against Ms Briffa, saying the tweet “demonstrates a failure to treat a particular member of the local comm­unity with dignity, fairness, ob­jectivity and respect and the Arbiter was unable to conclude the tweet could be read or interpreted as anything other than disrespectful towards Mrs Deeming”.

The Arbiter also upheld Ms Kellander’s complaint about a press release issued on mayoral letterhead, in which Ms Briffa stated in relation to Mrs Deeming: “they are well known for their anti-trans women stance.”

The press release related to a petition Mrs Deeming had signed, calling for a council policy “that allows people of all genders to access toilet facilities, while preserving separate public toilets of men and women”

“The Arbiter finds that the singling out of one particular individual by name in the way the Media Release does demonstrates a failure to provide the individual (in this instance, Moira Deeming) with the same level of respect afforded to the rest of the local community,” Ms Mazzeo found.

However, Ms Mazzeo did not uphold Ms Kellander’s complaint that Mrs Deeming had been “misgendered” in having been referred to as “they” rather than “she”, by Ms Briffa, finding that the then mayor “was using inclusive language, and did not intend to be disrespectful in any way.”

Mrs Deeming said she had not received any apology or retraction from Ms Briffa.

“The mayor was found guilty of two code of conduct breaches and still wasn’t ordered to retract her statements or apologise,” she said.

“I do not accept that women in this society who advocate for reasonable safeguarding around women’s and children’s rights should be subjected to such heinous character assassination by people who are abusing their positions of authority.”