Victorian Liberals fear transgender row will bleed into Aston by-election

Victorian federal Liberals fear turmoil in the state party over Moira Deeming’s potential expulsion will harm its chances of retaining the seat.

Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Victorian upper house MP Moira Deeming faces being dumped from the parliamentary Liberal Party over her opposition to ­transgender-related reforms but remaining a member of the broader organisation because of a lack of appetite for her removal among the rank and file.

Liberal elders are urgently trying to shore up support for state Opposition Leader John Pesutto, pressing his internal parliamentary critics to put the party’s interests ahead of concerns about the way Ms Deeming’s future has been handled.

Senior party figures suggest that Ms Deeming, who opposes transgender-related reforms particularly for children, will be ejected from the parliamentary party on Monday, but there is deep concern that if a sizeable rump of the partyroom continues to oppose the expulsion, Mr Pesutto’s authority will be severely undermined.

There is also a growing worry within the party that any tumult caused by the looming expulsion will bleed into the Aston federal by-election on April 1.

The Liberals hold that seat with a slim margin of 2.8 per cent and early voting is already under way.

So far, about 11 of the 31 members of the partyroom say they plan to vote against the motion to eject Ms Deeming, who has become embroiled in a row over her attendance at a women’s rights rally at parliament that was gate-crashed by neo-Nazis.

Senior party sources said even if Ms Deeming were ejected from the parliamentary party, she would be “odds on” to remain a member of the rank and file ­organisation. This is because several steps need to be taken for any expulsion, including starting at the branch level, requiring two- thirds support of the administrative committee and two-thirds of state assembly.

“It won’t happen because it is too hard,” one senior party figure said.

Another senior Liberal said Mr Pesutto’s backers needed to ­ensure he had a strong win when the parliamentary party does vote next week on whether to expel Ms Deeming.

Pressure is expected to be applied to opponents of the expulsion to rally round and support Mr Pesutto or risk seriously undermining his authority.

The aim is for only a handful of MPs to oppose the Pesutto motion, thereby handing him a big win, shoring up his leadership.

“A narrow victory for JP (Pesutto) would still be bad. We need a strong result,” an MP said.

Mr Pesutto has gambled his leadership authority on expelling Ms Deeming from the parliamentary party after she so publicly supported the British anti-trans campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen.

Anti-Pesutto forces on Tuesday moved to delay a partyroom meeting to expel Ms Deeming but failed, by 18 votes to 11.

Liberal MP for Warrandyte Ryan Smith told the ABC on Tuesday that people were uncomfortable with the move to expel her.

“I guess the next few days will be the opportunity for the leadership team to change my view on that,” he said.

The Australian spoke to several Liberal MPs unhappy with the way Mr Pesutto has handled the crisis over Mrs Deeming. This included MPs who will ultimately back their leader.

Mr Pesutto released a 15-page letter he sent to Ms Deeming 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”. He said Ms Deeming shared a platform with Ms Keen even though she “was known to be publicly associated with far-right extremist groups, including neo-Nazi activists”.