Deeming vs. Pesutto defamation trial: Renee Heath grilled over leaked minutes

Renee Heath has been quizzed in court about leaked minutes of a meeting she sent to ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming after she was sensationally suspended from the party.

Moira Deeming arrives with her barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC as her defamation battle continues against Victoria Liberal Leader John Pesutto continues. Picture: Aaron Francis

A parliamentary member has been grilled about leaked minutes of a meeting she sent to ousted Liberal MP Moira Deeming after she was sensationally suspended from the party.

Renee Heath MP was the first of several Liberals to take the stand in the Federal Court on Friday in Mrs Deeming’s high profile trial against Opposition Leader John Pesutto, where she claims he defamed her by painting her as a neo-Nazi sympathiser.

Mrs Deeming was suspended then expelled from the party after a controversial ‘Let Women Speak’ rally she helped organise was gatecrashed by 20 saluting Nazis on March 18, 2023.

A week later, at a party room meeting on March 27, a motion for Mrs Deeming’s expulsion resulted in a ‘compromise’ to suspend her for nine months instead.

The court heard Ms Heath – who was the meeting note taker – sent a draft of her minutes from her personal email account to Mrs Deeming’s personal email the next day after the exiled MP asked for a copy.

Renee Heath was the first of a string of Liberals set to take the stand. Picture: Aaron Francis.

The leaked notes later became the basis of a news story by Sky News journalist Peta Credlin.

“You did it to ensure they weren’t on the parliamentary system,” Mr Pesutto’s barrister Dr Matt Collins AM KC said of why the notes were sent from her personal email account.

“I don’t recall,” Ms Heath replied.

Asked why she didn’t email the notes from her parliamentary email, Ms Heath said, “I don’t recall”.

“Were you authorised to provide a copy of the notes to Mrs Deeming?” Dr Collins asked.

“I don’t recall,” Ms Heath replied, “I believe I would have been directed by Mr Pesutto or somebody on his behalf not to provide those notes.”

“How was it that you swore on oath that you hadn’t sent the notes when you had,” the barrister asked of Ms Heath’s sworn affidavit.

“I didn’t search my personal emails, I’d forgotten,” she said.

Liberal Leader John Pesutto arrives at court with his barrister Matthew Collins KC. Picture: Aaron Francis

Ms Heath confirmed she’d also forwarded the notes to two other colleagues.

Dr Collins said when Ms Heath saw the Sky News story she “knew it was a serious matter didn’t you, because you raised it immediately with Mr Pesutto”.

The court heard Ms Heath at the time told Mr Pesutto she “didn’t see how that could be the case” that Ms Credlin could publish a story based on her draft minutes because she hadn’t read the notes out to Ms Credlin, and they were “sent to your office but I image that’s secure”.

Another MP, Richard Riordan, was called to the stand and quizzed about his memory of conversations and what he read about the controversial rally.

He said after Mr Pesutto put out a media release on March 19 stating he intended to move a motion to expel Mrs Deeming from the party, “numerous calls and contacts were made with numerous colleagues and it was a frenzy over the next 72 hours”.

Ms Heath confirmed she’d also forwarded the notes to two other colleagues. Picture: Aaron Francis

Three more sitting Liberal MPs will be called to the witness box on Monday, including David Hodgett, Joe McCracken and Kim Wells, while former member Ryan Smith will also give evidence.

It comes after Mrs Deeming was grilled in court for three days, with her affidavit detailing her “fight to the death” with Mr Pesutto after she claims to have been painted as a neo-Nazi sympathiser.

Mr Pesutto denies he defamed Mrs Deeming.

In two affidavits stretching more than 100-pages, Mrs Deeming said she believed Mr Pesutto “set out to damage and utterly destroy me”, and that she “withdrew into myself” and became scared to go out in the community after being publicly linked to Nazism.

The much-anticipated defamation trial kicked off earlier this week with a bombshell audio recording of a meeting of the Liberal leadership that Mrs Deeming was summoned to the day after the controversial rally.

Ms Deeming was grilled in court for three days. Picture: Aaron Francis

Secretly recorded by David Southwick MP, it revealed a tense conversation on March 19 between the under-fire MP and her leadership team, who became determined to expel her from the party.

The tape, since published by the Federal Court, is now a public exhibit with anyone in the community able to go behind closed doors and listen for themselves what went down in the crucial gathering that led to a scandal that’s since engulfed the Victorian opposition.

Mr Pesutto has repeatedly denied this week that the defamation trial has been a distraction to him and his team in holding the Allan Labor Government to account.

But the Opposition Leader has now spent five days sitting in courtroom 6K, two metres from his ousted ex-colleague, with his team members now being called one-by-one to the stand.

And it’s where he will remain for the next two weeks, as the hearing before Justice David O’Callaghan continues.

Originally published as Deeming vs. Pesutto defamation trial: Renee Heath grilled over leaked minutes