A senior Victorian Liberal says all of the party’s state MPs are expected to be in parliament and that it is up to Moira Deeming to explain why she will miss a sitting week to attend a UK conference led by Jordan Peterson.
Deeming will skip next week’s sitting of Victorian parliament to attend the gathering staged by the Alliance for Responsible Citizenship (ARC), which is associated with the Canadian psychologist and self-help book author.
It comes just weeks after Deeming returned to the Liberal party room after a successful leadership spill by Brad Battin.
She had on Tuesday said that “this will be the first time I’ve ever missed a sitting day of parliament and is due to both personal and professional reasons.”
Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan, and their lower house retiring colleague, Keith Pitt, are also listed as attending the conference, along with former prime minister Tony Abbott and key figures from News Corp. However, federal parliament is not sitting at the time.
On Wednesday, Victorian upper house MP Georgie Crozier said attending parliament should be the “priority” of all Liberal party members.
“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.”
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.
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.
Deeming declined to comment on Crozier’s remarks when contacted by Guardian Australia. However, she previously said she had “arranged a pair” to cover her absence.
A spokesperson for Battin said Deeming’s travel plans were made “prior to her re-admittance to the party room”.
“Just like any other member of the team – future travel plans will need to be in keeping with parliamentary commitments and subject to consultation with the leadership,” the spokesperson added.
