Victorian Liberal leader John Pesutto and former Liberal MP Moira Deeming seem set to have a showdown in the federal court over defamation claims.
The Australian newspaper has obtained a letter sent to Deeming from Pesutto’s legal team which says he has no intention of apologising to her, and if the matter is taken to court, he will be defending his statements as being largely true.
Pesutto called for first term MP Moira Deeming to be ousted from the parliamentary Liberal party after she spoke at the Let Women Speak rally in Melbourne.
The event was part of the national tour of British provocateur Kellie-Jay Keen who argues against transgender women being given access to women’s spaces. Her appearance in Melbourne drew hundreds of counter protesters.
A masked neo-Nazi group also attended and stood adjacent to Keen’s supporters on the steps of the Victorian parliament. They held up derogatory signs towards the LGBTIQA+ groups, and also performed Nazi salutes.
Immediately after the rally Pesutto said there was no place for Deeming in the Liberal party, and he sent a dossier of material to colleagues arguing that she should be expelled. After a meeting it was decided that Deeming would be suspended from the party room for nine months.
After the meeting there was a disagreement over the minutes of the meeting, and Deeming claimed that Pesutto had promised to make joint public statement with her reassuring voters that she had no connection to neo-Nazi groups.
The issue played out in the media with details of different versions of the meeting minutes leaked to Sky News host Peta Credlin. Both Credlin and Deeming have stated that the leaked minutes did not come from Deeming’s office.
After weeks of stand-off Deeming appeared to deliver an ultimatum to the leader demanding that he make a public apology or face legal action. A second meeting was called and Deeming’s colleagues voted in favour of her being ousted from the parliamentary party permanently. Deeming later denied that she had been giving Pesutto and ultimatum.
The document obtained by The Australian reportedly shows that Deeming has now issued Pesutto with three concerns notices over his public comments, but the Opposition leader’s legal team has informed her that he is prepared to defend himself in court.
Deeming has alleged that the statement’s from Pesutto accused her of being a “Nazi sympathiser and Nazi associate” and that he used that as a basis to “threaten and bully” her out of the party room.
It is understood that that Deeming does not plan to file the case until after the by-election for the Warrandyte by-election.
Pesutto’s legal team includes Minter Ellison partner and veteran media lawyer Peter Bartlett, who has been engaged alongside Matt Collins KC. While Deeming has engaged high profile defamation lawyers Patrick Geroge and barrister Sue Chrysanthou.
OIP Staff
You can support our work by subscribing to our Patreon
or contributing to our GoFundMe campaign.
