Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has called for Moira Deeming to be invited back into the Parliamentary Liberal Party in the wake of her successful defamation lawsuit against leader John Pesutto.
The former Prime Minister said Deeming had been vindicated by the court.
“Moira Deeming has been vindicated by the Federal Court.
“No Liberal should ever be in trouble for standing up for the rights of women and girls. She should now swiftly be readmitted to the party room.” Abbott said on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Speaking to the media earlier today Deeming said she was open to returning to the party room.
Pesutto moved to have Deeming excluded from the parliamentary Liberal party after she attended a 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.
Over four weeks the court heard testimony from politicians, party officials, and expert witnesses. The case also brought to light secret recordings made of key meetings between the concerned parties.
Deeming’s claim argued that the Liberal leader’s actions led to damage to her reputation, vandalism of her electoral office, retraction of official MP invitations from community functions, social media reactions, threats, jibes, hatred, harassment, abuse, contempt and ridicule through emails, letters and voicemails to Deeming and on social media.
The court ruled that Pesutto had defamed Deeming on five occasions during radio interviews, television appearances, press conferences and media releases and associated documents.
