Moira Deeming has cancelled plans to skip a sitting week in the Victorian parliament to attend a UK conference led by Jordan Peterson that aims to “re-lay the foundations of our civilisation”, after public pressure from senior colleagues.
Guardian Australia revealed earlier this week Deeming was among a list of people attending the conference, held by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship. Federal Coalition frontbencher Bridget McKenzie and key News Corp figures were also on the list.
Her planned absence came just weeks after Deeming returned to the Liberal party room after a successful leadership spill by Brad Battin.
An email sent to Liberal party MPs on Thursday by the party’s upper house whip, Chris Crewther, included quotes from Battin, confirming Deeming’s plans had now changed.
“For the information of the party room, Moira will be present in parliament next week,” Battin said.
“She has adjusted her leave, which was committed to before her readmission to the party room. She adjusted her leave in the party’s best interest and I appreciate this.”
Guardian Australia confirmed the email’s veracity.
In a statement, Deeming said she had decided to return early from her trip to the UK due to “distraction caused by uninformed and unfair characterisations of my leave entitlements”.
Deeming’s return to the party room in December came after she was expelled by the then opposition leader, John Pesutto, in May 2023 after a rally she helped organise was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Deeming successfully sued Pesutto for defamation, which ultimately led to his demise as leader.
She said she booked the trip overseas during the defamation trial after deciding her family “had suffered enough and needed a break”.
“I arranged to provide the required medical certificates for leave from parliament and was willing to work for three days while on that trip by attending a conference relevant to my role as an MP,” Deeming said.
“Once I was readmitted to the Liberal party-room, I disclosed this to the leadership and due to my extenuating and unusual personal circumstances, I was kindly granted permission to go. I then arranged a pair to negate my absence.”
Earlier this week, Victorian upper house MP Georgie Crozier said attending parliament should be the “priority” of all Liberal MPs.
“It is a privilege to have this position as being an MP, and you need to be in parliament to prosecute the case for your party,” she told reporters.
“So I think it’s up to Mrs Deeming [to explain] why she’s made that decision, but I would say the rest of the Liberal team are getting on with what they need to do, and that is to prosecute the case against Labor.”
Crozier had been part of Pesutto’s leadership team during the push to expel Deeming, and had testified during the defamation trial in his defence.
She lost her position as leader of the opposition in the upper house after the leadership spill, and is understood not to have supported Deeming’s return to the party room.
The former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott, the former deputy prime minister John Anderson and the former treasurer Peter Costello are listed as speakers and contributors at the conference, to be held in London from 17 to 19 February.
Arc describes itself as an international movement “where empowered citizens take responsibility and work together to bring flourishing and prosperity to their families, communities, and nations”.
The three-day conference will “continue the vital work of re-laying the foundations of our civilisation”, the group’s website says.
Conference sessions on the main stage include discussions about energy and the environment each day. Costello, Chris Uhlmann and Abbott are scheduled as panellists.
