A dossier relied on by Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, to support his bid to expel Moira Deeming from the state Liberal party last year has been described as “no better than a project prepared by an eight-year-old” during his first day of cross-examination in a high-stakes defamation case.
Deeming, now an independent MP after her expulsion from the party, is suing Pesutto for allegedly falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at the Let Women Speak rally held on 18 March 2023 that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis. Pesutto has rejected the allegation.
Deeming’s barrister, Sue Chrystanthou SC, began cross-examining Pesutto on Tuesday afternoon and quizzed him on the dossier he created to support his expulsion of Deeming. It was circulated to MPs ahead of Deeming’s suspension from the party in the days after the rally.
The dossier contained news articles about the co-organiser of the Melbourne rally – UK activist Kellie-Jay Keen – including an interview she had given with a Canadian white supremacist. In her statement of claim, Deeming alleged the dossier formed part of the defamatory material against her.
In a terse exchange in the federal court in Melbourne, Chrystanthou described the dossier as “no better than a project prepared by an eight-year-old”.
“I reject that,” Pesutto replied.
Pressed on whether he provided Deeming procedural fairness in the creation of the dossier, Pesutto said it “could never be a judicial process”.
He said he needed to consider the reputation damage to the party from Deeming’s attendance at the rally.
Pesutto accepted he had not read the full article from a far-right website that reported comments made by a neo-Nazi figure who claimed a group of men who performed Nazi salutes outside state parliament had acted as a “vanguard” for the rally.
A screenshot from the article was included in the dossier.
Pesutto also told the court he was “certainly surprised” when he learned David Southwick, the party’s deputy leader, revealed he had secretly recorded a meeting between Deming and members of the Liberal party’s leadership team, held the day after the rally.
“You didn’t seek a copy because it contradicted a version of the meeting you told the press and party room for nine months,” Chrystanthou said.
“That’s wrong, your honour,” Pesutto replied.
In the recording, played to the court last week, Deeming is heard telling Pesutto and his colleagues she is “obviously not a Nazi”.
Pesutto is heard telling Deeming her attendance at the rally would be “toxic” for the Victorian Liberal party as they tried to win the 2026 election.
Earlier on Tuesday, the state Liberal leader’s barrister, Matthew Collins KC, said Deeming could have “worked out she was walking into a disaster” before she attended and spoke at the rally.
The court also heard that Deeming’s legal team had dropped three of the imputations referred to in her statement of claim, including the claim that Pesutto defamed her by implying she was a white supremacist.
Deeming was initially suspended from the party’s parliamentary team in the days after the rally before later being expelled. The motion was moved by Pesutto.
The Let Women Speak rally was co-organised by Keen, also known as Posie Parker, as part of her tour of Australia and New Zealand in which it was claimed that the push for transgender women’s rights was silencing and discriminating against women.
Deeming has alleged that Pesutto defamed her in media releases, press conferences and interviews he gave after the rally.
In his defence document, Pesutto argued that he “repeatedly and unequivocally acknowledged publicly that he does not believe Deeming to be a neo-Nazi, a white supremacist, or anything of similar substance or effect”.
He admitted to conveying some imputations, including that Deeming associated with speakers at the event who had “known links with neo-Nazis and white supremacists”.
In court documents, Pesutto said he would rely on the defences of honest opinion, contextual truth, public interest and qualified privilege.
The defamation trial, which began last week, is expected to run for three weeks.
