Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto paid $50,000 to cover legal fees for two women’s rights activists who were suing hm for defamation after he suggested they had links to neo-Nazis.
The details of the payment have been revealed in an exclusive report from The Australian newspaper and Sky News Australia.
At the time the two actions were settled Pesutto told the media that he had made a “small” contribution to cover the legal fees of the two women’s rights activists who were suing him.
The newspaper says it has seen private correspondence which lays out the details of the arrangement between Pesutto and lawyers representing activists Angela Jones and Kellie-Jay Keen.
It is claimed that Xavier Boffa, an informal advisor to Pesutto, arranged three payments of $20,000, $20,000 and $10,000 to law firm Alexander Rashidi Lawyers to cover the costs of solicitor Katherine Deves and barrister Bridie Nolan.
The Victorian Liberal leader moved to have MP Moira Deeming excluded from the parliamentary Liberal party after she attended the Let Women Speak event organised by British provocateur Kellie-Jay Keen in March 2023.
Keen’s tour around Australia drew large groups of counter-protesters and at the Melbourne event a neo-Nazi group appeared adjacent to where the Let Women Speak event was taking place on the stairs of the parliament house.
Pesutto’s first attempt at removing Deeming from the party saw her suspended from the party room for nine months, but after she threatened legal action, her colleagues voted to remove her permanently from the parliamentary party.
Since then, she has remained a member of the wider Liberal party, while sitting on the crossbench in the Victorian parliament. She subsequently lodged a defamation action against Pesutto over comments he said in the days following the rally.
From September to October the Federal Court heard the details of the case, and a judgement is due to be handed down on Thursday morning.
Ahead of the case between Deeming and Pesutto going to court, similar lawsuits from Jones and Keen were settled, but the deed of settlement did not include any details of the payment.
The newspaper says additional correspondence from Keen and Jones appears to indicate they were unaware of the full details of the financial arrangements. They claim invoices were sent to Jones for $12,470.83, and Keen was billed $37,529.17, together they total $50,000.
Further correspondence between the two activists and lawyer Katherine Deeves reportedly question the billing arrangement.
Both Keen and Jones have reportedly asked the NSW Office of the Legal Services Commissioner to review the payments, claiming they did not receive a “clear answer” from Katherine Deves as to why the details of the payment was not included in the deed.
Sky News and The Australian has noted that they are not suggesting any impropriety or wrongdoing has occurred, just that commissioner has been asked to look into the arrangement. OUTinPerth also makes no suggestion of wrongdoing.
Speaking to OUTinPerth Kellie-Jay Keen said the justice system needs to be transparent.
“It’s essential that all involved in the justice system are transparent and law abiding. If a country cannot rely upon fair and honest judiciary it is completely lost.” Keen said.
OUTinPerth reached out to John Pesutto, Bridie Nolan, Katherine Deves, Alexander Rashidi and Xavier Boffa for comment.
