Moira Deeming scores a court win over John Pesutto

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has been dealt a blow in the defamation trial involving expelled Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

Victorian independent MP Moira Deeming was ousted from the Liberal Party room in May 2023. Picture: Arsineh Houspian

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto has had his request to allow former ally Matthew Bach to give evidence remotely in his defamation trial thrown out, in a win for expelled independent Liberal MP Moira Deeming.

Federal Court judge David O’Callaghan ruled on Thursday to dismiss Mr Pesutto’s application for Mr Bach to appear before legal proceedings from his home in the UK.

The former opposition education spokesman quit politics and ditched Victoria to take up teaching at Brighton College in England last year.

The order means that Mr Bach will either have to fly to Melbourne to give his evidence, or Mr Pesutto’s legal team will have to rethink whether they wish to rely on his evidence.

Earlier this week, the Opposition Leader’s lawyer, Matthew Collins KC, said Mr Bach’s evidence would be relevant but not central to the case.

If Mr Bach is to give evidence, it is expected he will provide insight into the March 19 meeting between the state Liberal leadership and Ms Deeming.

In the hearing in the Federal Court in Melbourne on Thursday, Mr Pesutto was also ordered to pay Ms Deeming’s costs associated with his application.

Leading defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou, acting on behalf of Ms Deeming, raised questions on Monday as to why Mr Bach could fly to China for a 10-day “marketing exercise” for the school he teaches at, but could not make arrangements to give evidence in a trial he has provided two affidavits for.

Victorian Opposition Leader John Pesutto, second left, with, from left, Georgie Crozier, David Southwick and Matthew Bach in 2022. Picture: NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw

Judge O’Callaghan also appeared critical of the application from Mr Pesutto, and said that there were flights from Shanghai to Melbourne that Mr Bach could take.

In his judgment, he said he did not give the inconvenience that would be caused to Mr Bach significant weight.

“I accept that Dr Bach’s absence for a further period of five days (further to the China trip, that is) will likely cause some disruption to his pupils at the school and will inconvenience his wife and small children,” he said.

“But in the scheme of things, I do not give those matters significant weight – including because Dr Bach must have known in May when he swore his first affidavit that there was a likelihood that he would have to attend the trial in September in person, that certain inconvenience would be caused to his students and family as a result.”

Mr Pesutto on Wednesday filed a document outlining the points of difference in the March 19 meeting between Ms Deeming and senior Liberal Party members. The document said Ms Deeming felt the tone of the meeting was a “pile on” while Mr Bach gave evidence that Mr Pesutto, David Southwick, Georgie Crozier and himself dealt with her “with kid gloves”.

The ousted MP is suing her former boss over his efforts to expel her from the Liberal partyroom after her attendance at a Let Women Speak rally.

The high-profile trial is scheduled for September 16.