Victoria’s opposition leader, John Pesutto, “tarred” ex-Liberal MP Moira Deeming with “the Nazi brush” as he attempted to force her resignation from the Liberal party, the federal court has heard.
The high-stakes defamation battle brought against Pesutto by Deeming began in the federal court on Monday. The ousted Liberal MP has accused him of falsely portraying her as a Nazi sympathiser after she spoke at a March 2023 rally that was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
The Defamation Case
The defamation trial is expected to run for three weeks and threatens to expose instability in the party. In her opening address, Deeming’s barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, said Pesutto’s legal team would incorrectly argue that before March last year, Deeming had a bad reputation.
“Reputation is apparently an issue in this place. Mr Pesutto comes to this court and asks your honour to find that, before he tarred her with the Nazi brush in March of last year, she had a bad reputation,” she told the court. “The evidence that is before your honour points overwhelmingly to the contrary.”
Chrysanthou said this evidence includes Pesutto asking Deeming to apply for a parliamentary whip position after he was elected Liberal leader in December 2022.
Three months later, Deeming was among the speakers at a “Let Women Speak” rally held on the steps of Victoria’s parliament on 18 March 2023. The event was co-organised by the UK gender-critical activist Kellie-Jay Keen as part of her tour of Australia and New Zealand in which it was claimed that the push for transgender rights was silencing, and discriminating against, women.
Chrysanthou told justice David O’Callaghan that Pesutto “had it in for” Deeming over her “long-held views for safety for women”. She showed the court text messages between Pesutto and Louise Staley, a former Liberal MP who lost her seat at the November 2022 election.
In one text, referring to an article published in The Australian on the day of the rally, Staley said: “Moira Deeming at rally with neo-Nazis today.” Pesutto replied: “This only gets worse from here. I don’t even understand why she wants to be in the Liberal party.”
Staley said Pesutto needed to “consider expelling her from the party for consorting with Nazis”. Pesutto replied: “Agree.”
The day after the rally, at 12.26pm, Pesutto drafted a press release in his phone notes, shown to the court, which said “following our discussion, Mrs Deeming tendered her resignation as a member of the Liberal Party”.
“As at 12.26pm, It was Mr Pesutto’s intention to force a resignation of my client. If he couldn’t achieve that, he claimed to expel her. That’s not what he said in his affidavit,” Chrysanthou said.
The meeting, held at about 5.30pm that day, was attended by Pesutto, the then deputy leader Matthew Bach, and senior MPs David Southwick and Georgie Crozier. Pesutto’s then chief of staff, Rodrigo Pintos Lopez, and head of communications, Nick Johnston were also in attendance.
After the meeting, Pesutto issued a statement signalling his intention to expel Deeming from the party.
Pesutto's Defense
In his defence document, Pesutto argued 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” and that she was not a “fit and proper person to be a member of the Victorian parliamentary Liberal party” under his leadership.
In court documents, Pesutto said he would rely on the defences of honest opinion, contextual truth, public interest and qualified privilege.
The trial continues.
The Impact of the Trial
The trial is expected to be uncomfortable for the party and could destabilise Pesutto’s leadership. Liberal MPs, including shadow ministers, will give evidence both for and against their leader, with their private correspondence also likely to be exposed through the trial. Pesutto has repeatedly said he had exhausted every effort to settle.
