Secret recording shows Victorian Liberal leadership ‘shocking pile on’ toward expelled MP Moira Deeming

Victorian opposition leader John Pesutto was heard in a tape played to the court that Moira Deeming’s attendance at a rally gatecrashed by Nazis was ‘toxic’ for the Liberal Party and that he was ‘getting clobbered’.

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Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto told expelled MP Moira Deeming that the rally she attended that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis would be “toxic” for the Liberal Party and said he was “getting clobbered” in a covert recording played to the Federal Court.

On day two of her defamation action against Mr Pesutto, Ms Deeming agreed that her views on transgender and gender diverse people were controversial, as audio of the 70-minute meeting between the state Liberal leadership and the MP the day after the March Let Women Speak rally was heard by the Justice David O’Callaghan on Tuesday.

In the meeting secretly taped by deputy Liberal leader David Southwick, Mr Pesutto said there was a concerning perception that the party was associated with Nazis after the protest.

“Nazism is like the most toxic acid that can run through any political party and it’s running through us, whether we like it or not, people think we turn the other cheek to Nazis … That’s what they think Moira, It’s bad.”

Ms Deeming added: “And it needs to be fixed”.

He said he was worried the rally would loom over his bid to win the 2026 state election and his party’s push to secure crossbench support for an upper house inquiry into whether Labor MPs directed independent auditors to “dig up dirt” on the Independent Broad-based Corruption Commission.

“Whether you like it or not … when the media see that they see them attached to you, they see them attached to me, they see them attached to us. Now we’ve got a big problem,” Mr Pesutto told Ms Deeming.

“I’m getting clobbered … this is not going away and I think this is going to intensify as a story

“It’s going to be toxic for us, we won’t be able to get any messages up, campaign on anything.”

Moira Deeming leaving Federal Court on Monday. Picture: Josie Hayden

Ms Deeming took the stand on Tuesday after the tape was played.

She agreed that her views on transgender and gender diverse people were viewed as controversial within the Liberal Party when asked by Matthew Collins KC, representing Mr Pesutto, who sought to prosecute her social beliefs.

Mr Collins also tendered a series of emails between Moira Deeming and UK women’s rights activist Kellie Jay-Keen that showed the MP offered to organise sound equipment and security for the rally.

Ms Deeming also backed in her previous statement about the Victorian government’s safe school program and previous comments she made that its authors were “paedophile apologists”.

In the March 19 meeting between Mr Pesutto, Mr Southwick, MP Georgie Crozier, former MP Matthew Bach and former chief of staff Rodrigo Pintos-Lopez and Ms Deeming, the independent MP said she only found out about the separate group of protesters performing the Nazi salute on the steps of parliament after the event.

“Are you accusing me of actual Nazi links?” Ms Deeming questioned.

“Very obviously, I am not a Nazi, and I don’t support Nazis.”

Victorian Opposition leader John Pesutto at Parliament House in Melbourne with new Deputy David Southwick, Georgie Crozier and Matthew Bach. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Throughout the meeting, Mr Pesutto and his senior colleagues raised concerns over Ms Deeming’s associations with Kellie Jay-Keen and Angie Jones.

The group pressed Ms Deeming on a tweet from Ms Jones that read: “Nazis and women want to get rid of paedo filth, why don’t you?”, to which the MP said she believed the message was a condemnation of pedophilia.

Mr Pesutto said the LGBTQ community would interpret the meaning as offensive.

“I’m very concerned about where (former premier Daniel) Andrews is going to take it this week. They have been itching for something to clobber me with and this is it, it’s coming.

Mr Pesutto then said he believed there were two outcomes.

“In the interest of candour, I came into this meeting thinking whether there were two outcomes … either you resign from the parliamentary party or I look at a process under the parliamentary party rules,” he said.

“I understand you’re passionate about these things, I get it. But if you want to be able to continue to do that, the best way to do that might be to be as an independent, to give you complete freedom.”

The recording was heated at times, with Ms Crozier repeatedly expressing she was “furious” at Ms Deeming.

Ms Chrysanthou said the tape showed the group “bullied and harangued” her client.

“This was a shocking pile on my client by these people. It’s a form of what young people call gaslighting,” she said.

Ms Deeming is suing her former boss over his efforts to expel her from the party room, and over allegations he falsely portrayed her as a Nazi sympathiser.

The trial continues, with the cross-examination of Ms Deeming to resume on Wednesday.