Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has vowed to fight opposition leader John Pesutto’s push to expel her from the Liberal party room and says she’s done nothing wrong after she attended a rally she claims was “gate-crashed” by neo-Nazis.
Pesutto released a statement on Sunday night announcing he had met with Deeming to inform her he would move a motion to expel her from the parliamentary Liberal party, after she attended the rally in support of British anti-transgender activist Kellie-Jay Keen, who was speaking as part of a national tour.
A group of men from the National Socialist Network gathered outside Victoria’s parliament on Saturday during the event and were photographed performing the Nazi salute several times.
Pesutto described Deeming’s position as “untenable” after her “involvement in … promoting and participating in a rally with speakers and other organisers who themselves have been publicly associated with far rightwing extremist groups including neo-Nazi activists”.
Deeming spoke at the rally and earlier in the month promoted it in a speech to parliament, in which she encouraged the minister for women to attend.
In a statement released on Monday afternoon, she said she and the organisers of the Let Women Speak (LWS) event had “done nothing wrong” and she had been “condemned unjustly” by a “select few members of the Liberal leadership team”.
She said the Liberal party were faced with two options: either to “stand on our principals” or “accept the utterly false premise that anyone who chooses to speak out reasonably, constructively, and legally is somehow an endorsement for anyone at all who happens to show up at a public event”.
“My intention is to fight and to remain a member of the team,” Deeming said. “I hope that when I have the opportunity to present the facts as they occurred, that my colleagues will stand on principle and vote down the motion to have me expelled.”
Deeming said the men “gate-crashed” the event and “were later identified as neo-Nazis”.
“Most of the LWS supporters did not realise who they were until they were being escorted out by Victoria Police, when they did the despicable Nazi salute,” she said.
“I completely reject the beliefs of National Socialists (Nazis) and I have seen first-hand the impact that the Holocaust had on a family member.
“None of those organising the event had any involvement with these men.”
She criticised “extreme left counter protestors” who also attended the event, claiming they injured her and other women.
“They also became violent with police and punched police horses, forcing the event to finish early. I condemn their actions,” Deeming said.
At a press conference on Monday morning, Pesutto said expelling Deeming was a “necessary step” to ensure the Liberal party was an “effective opposition” and “ready to govern” come the 2026 state election.
“There wasn’t really any alternative but to do this, the reason being any question of an association, even indirectly, with Nazis, white supremacists, eco-fascists or whatever else is so odious in 2023 – as it should be – that I can’t see a way back,” he said.
“Under my leadership, we will never have anything to do with it, and more to the point, we will oppose it wherever we see it.”
Pesutto said Deeming escorted Keen through the parliament premises to the protest, attended the rally and did not leave when the neo-Nazi group arrived.
“Thirdly, having seen the ugly scenes and having had an opportunity to disown and dissociate from those very people, Ms Deeming chose to celebrate, as evidenced on social media,” he said.
Pesutto was referring to a video posted on YouTube of Deeming, Keen, failed Liberal candidate for Warringah, Katherine Deves, and anti-trans campaigner, Angie Jones, sipping champagne as they discussed the protest.
During the video, Keen repeatedly claimed that a group of men who gave Nazi salutes might not have been neo-Nazis.
Pesutto said it took his team about 20 minutes to investigate the organisers’ links to extremist groups, so he “can’t be satisfied” Deeming didn’t know about their associations.
He said he was not aware of any other Liberal MPs attending the event.
The vote – expected to occur early next week – is the first real test for Pesutto, who won the leadership of the Victorian Liberals in December by a single vote following a crushing state election loss.
The party’s previous leader, Matthew Guy, defended Deeming’s preselection in July last year, describing her attacks on transgender rights as “in the past”.
She was selected to replace outspoken Victorian upper house MP Bernie Finn ahead of the November state election after he was booted from the parliamentary Liberal party for calling for abortion to be banned, even for rape survivors.
Since being elected, Pesutto has signalled his intention to bring the party back to the centre, after years of internal division between its socially liberal and conservative members.
A group of conservative Liberal party members on Sunday threatened to quit the party if Deeming is expelled and wrote to other members urging them to write to their local MP to oppose the motion.
A source close to Pesutto described the group as a “small but vocal minority”, with most members supportive of the decision.
Another source, aligned with Deeming, said she was blindsided by the meeting with the Liberal leadership team, which went for 90 minutes on Sunday. They said Deeming believed the motion was because of her anti-trans views.
Several federal Liberals, including Jacinta Price and senator Claire Chandler, have issued statements offering Deeming their support.
• This story was corrected on Monday, 20 March 2023. The group involved in the protest at parliament house was from the National Socialist Network, not the National Socialist Movement, which is a separate and unrelated group.
