Victorian Liberals ‘lucky’ to have Moira Deeming says UK feminist activist Kellie-Jay Keen
Feminist activist Kellie-Jay Keen has called on newly elected Victorian Liberal leader Brad Battin to give Moira Deeming a role of ‘influence’.
British activist Kellie-Jay Keen says the Victorian Liberal Party is lucky to have Moira Deeming back in the fold and has called on newly elected leader Brad Battin to give her a role of “influence”.
Asked whether Mr Battin should appoint Mrs Deeming to the role of shadow minister for women or provide her with any other shadow ministry portfolios, Ms Keen told The Australian: “The Liberal Party are lucky to have Moira Deeming. Any role where she has an influence would send a message to the electorate that the Liberal Party is willing to stand up for the rights of women and children.”
UK-based Ms Keen, also known as Posie Parker, is behind the “Let Women Speak” movement, which protests what it sees as infringements upon women’s and children’s rights by transgender activists.
On Tuesday, Mrs Deeming told The Australian she would accept any decision the leadership team made about the shadow ministry and would continue to work hard for her constituents.
“My view is that wherever I am on the chessboard, I’m grateful to be in play, and I will do my best to help,” she said.
Ms Keen, alongside Mrs Deeming, helped organise the Melbourne rally in March 2023 that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
In the fallout, Mrs Deeming was expelled from the Victorian Liberal partyroom and successfully sued the party’s then-leader John Pesutto for defamation over his portrayal of her as a Nazi sympathiser.
On Friday, Mrs Deeming was readmitted to the parliamentary Liberal Party at the same meeting in which Mr Pesutto was ousted by Mr Battin as leader of the party.
The leadership spill followed Mr Pesutto’s crushing loss to Mrs Deeming in the Federal Court and his subsequent vote preventing her readmission to the partyroom one week earlier.
Mr Battin is expected to announce his shadow cabinet in early January.
Ms Keen said that globally, people were “desperate” for politicians with conviction.
“… they almost don’t care the specifics of what those individuals stand for as long as they stand for something,” she said.
“We’re all fed up of meaningless platitudes and sound bites.”
Following the rally last year, Ms Keen and Melbourne-based activist Angela Jones joined Mrs Deeming in suing Mr Pesutto, alleging he defamed them by suggesting they were linked to far-right extremist groups and neo-Nazis.
Ms Keen and Ms Jones settled their matters out of court in May, resulting in Mr Pesutto issuing an apology to the two for “any hurt, distress or harm that has occurred” as a result of his comments being “misunderstood as conveying” that he believed them to be neo-Nazis or members of neo-Nazi groups.
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