Top Lib says women deserve safe spaces

Liberal frontbencher Michael Sukkar warns women and girls deserve safe spaces and should not be forgotten in transgender debate.

Victorian MP Moira Deeming (left) with UK far right activist Kellie-Jay Keen. Picture: YouTube

Supporters of biological men using women’s private spaces or competing against females in sport are on the wrong side of history, according to Liberal powerbroker Michael Sukkar.

Mr Sukkar is one of a large number of Victorian Liberals upset at the state party’s handling of the transgender rally crashed by neo-Nazis during the federal by-election campaign for Aston.

The opposition social services spokesman has told friends he is unimpressed with the way the state party has “capitulated” to the transgender lobby.

“Those who argue that biological men should be able to use private women’s spaces – like public change rooms, or who believe that biological men should be allowed to compete in sport against women and girls – are simply on the wrong side of history,’’ he said.

His comments came as opposition education spokeswoman Sarah Henderson privately expressed concern about state leader John Pesutto’s decision to expel backbencher Moira Deeming in the midst of the Aston fight after Ms Deeming failed to swiftly denounce neo-Nazis who gatecrashed a trans rally. She says she was unaware they would attend.

A far-right group does Nazi salutes on the steps of the Victorian Parliament at a recent trans rally in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire/David Crosling

There are internal fears the blow-up over Ms Deeming could harm the Liberal’s chances in Aston, which has a margin of 2.8 per cent.

The row over Ms Deeming has split the Victorian Liberals, with socially progressive members demanding a more inclusive response to the gay and transgender communities. Concern among federal MPs comes as the broader party is split over what to do with Ms Deeming, who is also openly anti-abortion.

Liberal powerbroker Michael Kroger stridently opposed Ms Deeming’s preselection to Victoria’s upper house and she was rejected by the party in Canberra when she made a bid to run as one of Scott Morrison’s candidates in 2022 in Gorton. The Weekend Australian has also learned former state frontbencher Louise Staley spoke at the party’s administrative committee before the 2022 state poll suggesting it delay Ms Deeming’s upper house preselection because of controversy over her background.

The state opposition will decide on Monday whether to expel Ms Deeming from the parliamentary party, with a majority supporting the ban. Mr Pesutto has gambled his leadership authority on expelling Ms Deeming after she supported British activist Kellie-Jay Keen.

Mr Pesutto has released a 15-page letter he sent to Ms Deeming this week explaining why she should be dumped from the party, alleging she associated with people who expressed far-right views and shared a platform with an activist he claims advocated for a “white ethno state”.

Moira Deeming and Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto. Picture: Facebook

Mr Pesutto says Ms Deeming shared a platform with anti-trans rights campaigner Mrs Keen even though, he says, Mrs Keen “was known to be publicly associated with far-right extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”. Mrs Keen has stridently denied she was linked to neo-Nazis or the far right, and there is no suggestion Ms Deeming backs these extremist groups.

Mr Pesutto’s backers are hopeful a significant majority of the 31-member partyroom will support the expulsion.

Two former Liberal MPs are convinced the party is dying. “It is headed toward being irrelevant,” former state MP Andrew Elsbury said. “It can’t find what its purpose is any more.”

Bernie Finn, a Deeming backer and long-time ex-state MP, suggests the end will come “in five years, 10 at the most”.

“They have forgotten why the Liberal Party exists,” he said.