Moira Deeming tells Victorian Liberal colleagues of ‘painful lessons’

A last-gasp appeal by Moira Deeming to her Victorian Liberal colleagues to vote against a ­motion to expel her looks set to fail.

Moira Deeming says ‘I am a brand new MP and deserve the chance to learn from this’. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

A last-gasp appeal by Moira Deeming to her Victorian Liberal colleagues to vote against a ­motion to expel her on Monday morning looks set to fail, although party sources expect the vote to be tight.

Ms Deeming cited the “many painful lessons” she had learned over the past week after her name became associated with neo-Nazi supporters who gatecrashed the Let Women Speak rally she attended on March 18 alongside British anti-trans rights activist Kellie-Jay Keen.

In an email sent to colleagues on Sunday, the upper house MP said she had been a victim of “guilt by various degrees of association”, and reiterated her offer to publicly back the party leadership, led by Opposition Leader John Pesutto.

John Persuio. Picture: Andrew Henshaw

“I respectfully write to ask that you vote against the motion to expel me from the Liberal Party parliamentary team because I am innocent of these charges, I am a brand new MP and deserve the chance to learn from this, and because guilt by various degrees of association is not a standard that any one of us can avoid transgressing,” Ms Deeming said.

“I want you all to know that I have learned many painful lessons from this experience, and that I deeply regret the trouble this has caused my state and federal colleagues and the wider party membership.

“And also, that my offer to publicly back the current leadership team if the vote to expel me fails, still stands,” she said.

Mr Pesutto is pushing for Ms Deeming’s expulsion from the parliamentary Liberal Party on the basis that she had acted “in a manner likely to bring discredit on the parliament or the parliamentary party” in her association with Ms Keen, who he said was “known to be publicly associated with far right-wing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.

Ms Keen denies any such an association, and Ms Deeming ­vehemently denies any links to Nazism or to far-right extremist groups. She has said she was unaware of the presence of the far-right group at the rally outside Victoria’s Parliament House.

Monday’s vote is anticipated to be closer than a similar vote last week to delay the expulsion motion, which was lost 18-11.

There were two absentees last week, and the total voting on Monday will be 31.

Party sources point out that while it will likely be closer than that vote, Mr Pesutto won the party’s leadership ballot in December by a single vote.

Ms Deeming, who came into parliament in November, continued to press her case with colleagues on Sunday. She said she loved the Liberal Party and wanted to remain its representative in parliament: “Regardless of the outcome of this vote, I’ll be keeping my Liberal Party membership and representing us in parliament to the best of my ability.”

Ms Deeming said any suggestion she or the Liberal Party were “in any way, shape or form directly or indirectly somehow ‘pro-Nazi’ due to my affiliation with the ‘Let Women Speak’ Australia campaign” was “demonstrably false … It has been damaging in the extreme to my reputation and to the Liberal Party brand.”

Ms Deeming told colleagues she condemned Nazism and would say so publicly. She also said she was unaware of allegations of Ms Keen’s alleged links to Nazi sympathisers until being told at a meeting with the Liberal leadership last Sunday night.

Party sources noted she had still not condemned the views of Ms Keen. Ms Deeming described last weekend’s rally as a “legal and mainstream ‘women’s rights’ campaign event, previously attended and supported by other senior female Coalition MPs.”

Mr Pesutto’s hardline stance has been questioned by some in the party, including some who will vote in favour of the expulsion, but the Liberal leader considers it an important step in setting a “mainstream” direction for the party that embraces diversity.

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