Moira Deeming Part 1
Update 491. Now available to all subscribers. #BeMorePorcupine
This update was initially only available to paid subscribers but is now available to all subscribers.
It is in two parts and is intended to make this important judgment accessible to non-lawyers.
Part 1 deals with the agreed facts. These are the facts agreed by all parties ( with any disagreements indicated) presented to the court at the commencement of the case. Though I have honed them down this is still quite long but I thought it would be useful for readers to get a really good grasp of the facts.
In Part 2 I will not dwell on the examination in chief and cross examination of witnesses ( apart from some of the cross-examination of Mr Pesutto) but concentrate on Mr Justice O’Callaghan’s findings on the facts. I will give an example of the effects on Moira Deeming of what happened and then look at the damages awarded.
Just three observations from me at this stage:
Prior to the Let Women Speak (LWS) rally, Mr Pesutto, the leader of the Liberal (opposition) Party in Victoria already had a fundamental disagreement with Moira (who was a brand new MP) about ‘transgender rights.’
The actions of Mr Pesutto and his party show how unwise it is to arrive at conclusions before you have done a proper investigation of the facts.
Not only the Liberal Party, but the mainstream media arrived at wholly misleading and often totally incorrect conclusions very early on in this process. However, I am not concentrating on the media responses here. You may wish to seek out some of those in the judgment itself ( see the list of contents at the beginning of the judgment).
The judgment is here:
https://www.judgments.fedcourt.gov.au/judgments/Judgments/fca/single/2024/2024fca1430
Numbers in the margin are paragraph numbers from the judgment.
18 March 2023
The LWS rally
94 On 18 March, Mrs Deeming attended the LWS rally in Melbourne, which was held on the steps of Parliament House.
95 A detailed narrative and pictorial chronology of the LWS rally, as agreed between the parties, which runs to 58 pages, is set out in a document entitled “Agreed Chronology of the Let Women Speak Rally”, emailed to chambers (with leave) after the completion of the trial (but not yet electronically filed).
96 The sources for that chronology were:
(a) the unchallenged evidence of Mr Fernando, a videographer and independent journalist who filmed the LWS rally, in his affidavit dated 27 May 2024 (at CB:7), and its exhibit “RF-1” (RF-1);
(b) the first audio-visual recording of the LWS rally filmed by Mr Fernando using a high-definition single-lens camera which was mounted to a handheld camera mount (the Fernando HD footage) (Ex R180);
(c) the second audio-visual recording of the LWS rally filmed by Mr Fernando using an iPhone which was directly streamed via Facebook Live to his Facebook page (the Fernando stream) at page 1 of RF-1 and at CC:254;
(d) the audio-visual recording taken by Ms Keen which was livestreamed on and then subsequently uploaded to her YouTube page (the Keen footage) (Ex A137); and
(e) the audio-visual recording entitled “Let Women Speak Melbourne 2023 Highlights” published on YouTube by “The Unshackled” (the Unshackled footage) (Ex R522).
97 I set out below a summary of the key events of the LWS rally, which is drawn from the agreed chronology.
98 At approximately 11.42am, Mr Fernando approached the north end of Spring Street where a police line had formed (the north police line) (CB:7, 147[11]). He observed that a group of a dozen men dressed in black approached the north police line (CB:7, 147[11]). They were carrying an Australian flag and a rolled-up banner.
99 Mr Fernando gave evidence that around this time he observed that “a large group of counter protesters had formed on Bourke Street” (the Bourke Street protesters) (CB:7, 147[15]).
100 At around 11.43am, the men in black (who were referred to in the agreed chronology as the Nazis) stood in a line opposite the north police line and unfurled a banner which read “Destroy Paedo Freaks” (the banner), which was displayed towards the south end of Spring Street. The crowd could be heard chanting, “Fuck off Nazis, fuck off” (CB:7, 147 [13]; Fernando HD footage at 2.45–3.00).
101 At approximately 11.55am, Mr Fernando heard “police sirens and loud drumming coming from the north end of Spring Street” (CB:7, 148[19]). A large number of protesters carrying red flags (described by the parties as the Socialist Alternative protesters) emerged from the far north end of Spring Street (CB:7, 148[21]). The police formed a further line (the far north police line) preventing the Socialist Alternative protesters from entering the Parliamentary precinct (Fernando HD footage at 14.00–14.12).
102 At around that time, the Nazis faced the north, displayed the banner, and performed the Nazi salute in the direction of the Socialist Alternative protesters (CB:7, 148[23]; Fernando HD Footage at 14.15).
103 Between approximately 11.57am and 12.04pm, the Socialist Alternative protesters started chanting, among other things, “Posie Parker you can’t hide; you’ve got Nazis on your side” and “fuck off, Nazis, fuck off” (Fernando HD footage at 15.56–17.30, 20.20–21.01, 21.55–22.55).
104 At 12.03pm, Ms Jones (using the handle @angijones) made the following post on Twitter (CC:742):
105 At approximately 12.06pm, Ms Keen commenced livestreaming the Keen footage (Ex A137).
106 At 12.07pm, the official page of Let Women Speak (using the handle @StandingforXX) posted the following on Twitter (CC:743):
107 At approximately 12.09pm, Mrs Deeming and Ms Keen walked from the car park to the steps of Parliament through the Parliament House annex (Keen footage at 3.00). Ms Keen then entered the footpath on the south end of Spring Street and was escorted by private security and police to the steps of Parliament House (Keen footage at 4.30–5.30). Ms Keen was then seen to emerge from the steps of Parliament House with Mrs Deeming.
108 At approximately 12.15pm, Ms Keen commenced setting up cameras and microphones in front of a large banner that read “#let women speak” (Fernando HD footage at 34.40).
109 At around the same time, the Nazis were standing on the north end of Spring Street, behind the far north police line, displaying the banner, facing south. The Nazis, whilst maintaining a line, began to approach the Parliamentary precinct.
110 The Nazis then turned to face the Socialist Alternative protesters on the north end of Spring Street and displayed the banner in their direction.
111 At approximately 12.18pm, Ms Keen mounted the first few steps of the south end of Parliament House and began speaking into a microphone in front of the #let women speak banner, facing west towards the LWS rally attendees and the Bourke Street protestors.
112 Seventeen LWS rally attendees, including Mrs Deeming, then took turns to speak in front of the #let women speak banner, from approximately 12.24pm until 1.42pm. On two occasions, the speeches were interrupted by “intrusions” from counter protestors.
113 At approximately 12.33pm, the Nazis started to mount the steps of Parliament House. As they stood on the steps, two people in front of them displayed a banner that read:
PROTECT OUR CHILDREN
STOP THE MORAL DECAY OF SOCIETY
SILENCE IS NO LONGER AN OPTION
114 At approximately 12.36pm, Mr Thomas Sewell (who, as was accepted by both parties, was the leader of the Nazi protestors) was standing on the footpath at the base of the steps of Parliament House on the north end of Spring Street, whilst the other Nazis were standing on the fifth or sixth row of the steps of Parliament House. Mr Sewell could be heard to be speaking through a megaphone. He said:
‘We are here to destroy the fools that are destroying our children. We are not here to conserve. We are revolutionaries. What that means is that, it is not good enough for the politicians to allow this to happen. It is not good enough for the schools to teach sodomy and globalism to our children. The reason why we are here is because it is not good enough what’s currently going on under our political solution. It is our belief, that a revolution is coming.
‘It is our belief that these communists, paedophiles and trannies have infiltrated every single institution of this country across the West. They are not just coming for your children, they are coming for everyone. They cannot breed. They have castrated themselves, chemically, psychologically and spiritually. We wish for the survival and preservation of our people. We are not here to have a conversation with these people. We are not here to make a compromise with these communists. We are not here to be nice and friendly. We are revolutionaries and we are here to destroy the sick and rotted society that has left us all out to dry.’
115 Mr Sewell then engaged in a “call and response” with the Nazis behind him, who chanted while repeatedly performing the Nazi salute.
116 During Mr Sewell’s speech (from approximately 12.36pm to approximately 12.38pm), Ms Keen could be heard speaking concurrently about the second intrusion at the LWS rally.
117 At approximately 12.48pm, the Nazis dismounted the steps of Parliament House and began to walk towards the north end of Spring Street. A police officer stopped them and led them to cross Spring Street towards the footpath near Bourke Street (Fernando HD footage at 1.06.43).
118 Two more police officers approached the Nazis, who then began to perform the Nazi salute pointed in a northerly direction, where the Socialist Alternative protesters were still gathered (Fernando HD footage at 1.06.54).
119 The Nazis, as they turned to walk south on Spring Street, continued to perform the Nazi salute towards the protesters that had gathered on and around Bourke Street (Keen footage at 1.07.11).
120 Just after 1pm, the Socialist Alternative protesters emerged behind the Bourke Street protesters, further west on Bourke Street. They were seen to approach the Bourke Street protesters and ultimately join them in standing on Bourke Street opposite Parliament House.
121 At around this time, police on horseback, who were previously on the far north police line, began to reinforce a line of police along Bourke Street (Fernando HD footage at 1.20.48).
122 At approximately 1.16pm (Keen footage at 1.10.01), Mrs Deeming commenced her speech which concluded at approximately 1.18pm (Keen footage at 1.12.06).
123 Mrs Deeming read a message from a Muslim friend of hers as follows:
‘Alright. My name’s Moira Deeming I’m a newly elected MP in the Victorian Parliament. People told me that I only got elected because nobody knew what I thought, but I’ve doing this for fifteen years with my friends in the Greens party and the Labor party and every party conceivable. Today, I’m actually going to read a message from a Muslim friend of mine who was too afraid to be here because of behaviour like that. She has said that she came to Australia because she knew that in Australia human rights were advocated for strongly and she would have protection in Australia. She thought that Australia was a paradise, especially for herself as a woman. And she thought that in Australia everybody, regardless of religion, ethnicity, sexual orientation any other belief of any other kind they’ve got to respect each other’s beliefs and boundaries. And now she is devastated to find out that she has less rights in Australia than she did back home. She has said that boundaries are the emotional, mental and physical fences of every human that are erected in order to protect and maintain our psychological and physical needs, whether it be a human or an animal and if an animal can understand and respect boundaries, why can’t they? She’s seeking that the government will do their job and stand up for the rights that she was promised when she came to Australia lawfully and legally. And then she said, “if the LGTBQI can have their rights, that’s fine, but why does it involve taking away everybody else’s rights?” And she wants to say a big thank you to everybody out here today and especially Kellie-Jay. Thank you.’
124 At approximately 1.42pm Ms Keen began making closing remarks, and at around 1.47pm she ended the livestream of the rally.
135 At 4.41pm, Ms Jones published a post on Twitter which read, “Nazis and women want to get rid of paedo filth. Why don’t you?” (the Jones tweet). The Jones tweet was part of an exchange, which read in full:
140 That evening, Ms Keen, together with Mrs Deeming, Ms Jones and Ms Katherine Deves, filmed the livestream which Ms Keen had suggested, starting at 7.46pm. (Ms Deves is a former Federal Liberal Party candidate who also spoke at the LWS rally.) The video was uploaded to YouTube at 8.13pm (Ex A258).
141 That video and a transcript of it were in evidence (Ex R37 and Ex R38 respectively). It was sometimes referred to as “the champagne video”, because each of the women (except Ms Jones) sipped a little champagne during the course of it (it lasts 24 minutes in all).
142 Counsel for Mr Pesutto sought to make much of it during the hearing, so it is necessary to set out the transcript of the relevant exchanges, as follows:
KJK [Ms Keen]: What a day! So I’m here with some evil TERFs [trans-exclusionary radical feminists] uh down under. We’re calling this, I’m calling this TERF talk down under it’s a concept that I’ve come up with [*all laugh*]. I have Angie Jones here, who is the TERF talk down under content deliverer. I’ve got Kathy, Katherine Deves, uh myself I’m Kelly[-Jay] and this is Moira Deeming who’s an MP and we’ve just had an exceptionally interesting um day …
…
Yeah, ah Kath what about you?
KD [Ms Deves]: I thought the speeches today were absolutely magnificent um what some of those women got up, they were shaky when they got off the microphone they were so brave again it was such a varied mix of women, varied mix of experiences and if the people who are the detractors or the media who have been and some of whom have been absolutely just remiss in how they’ve reported this if they actually listened to what the women had to say they’d understand what we’re about so I think this is a fantastic record for history and I’m really proud of everyone who worked to put it together today.
KJK: Yeah me too. I’m particularly I think Australian women are quite funny. I think there was a lot of humour in a lot of the speeches. What about you Moira?
MD [Mrs Deeming]: Look as a newly elected MP it was really interesting for me and vindicating to see women from every single political party uniting over these basic human rights. It was also wonderful to see uh just how protective everybody was of each other, you know we had a couple of people uh become very violent so some trans activists pretended to be a part of our group.
Obviously there was that group of masked men who came in, we didn’t know who they were but we were concentrating on these people at the front and you know one woman was knocked unconscious and taken to hospital. I got kicked in the shins a whole bunch of times.
But they were dealt with within you known under, under, under a minute each, we dealt with them we got rid of them and we just carried on and that’s what we’ll continue to do and it was just a fun day and it was really great.
…
KJK: And let me just say for the record and I’m not speaking for anybody else in this room but if somebody comes and poses a risk to women, I’m kind of all right with a bit of, a little bit of violent kind of pulling them out of the way uh proportionate violence um and getting them out of the way and away from women as a risk.
…
So we had to wrap up that’s why we finished a little bit sort of quick[l]y and we had to really rush the speeches at the end and then obviously there was some other people occupying the steps which I think we all thought we were told by security were antifa because they were all in black with black masks so we thought they were antifa and they were just over there but I think it’s safe to say, there were so many risks, potential risks in our crowd.
…
KJK: But should we talk about, um, to talk about the elephant in the room Moira because you’re going to complain…
MD: Yes.
KJK: …because we had, we’re not when we both got there so we had, we were told that well we both thought that there was antifa um and I was told even putting my uh tripod at the top of the steps there was a very militant, there was a very militant police officer that was like get [off] the steps don’t stand on the steps, don’t stand on the steps, don’t stand the steps. Really wouldn’t let us stand there and we had a permit for where we did stand but there were other people that didn’t have a permit.
MD: Yes so the thing that I found very confusing was that we were assured by the police and as I say, it seems to us while we were there that everything was going well that the police were trying to help us and I think the majority were but when I was alerted to the fact that they were all these masked men coming towards us they were all in black we couldn’t see their faces I thought that the trans rights activists had broken through the line and we’re about to get attacked.
I honestly just thought this is it yep I’m about to, we’re all about to get attacked. Um but the police were very, very calm and you know they had set up a big buffer zone, they had set up you know a boundary but they were talking to these people and letting them stand on the steps and take photos I was told later that they had a banner or something.
You know, but then I was also told later that one of our marshals had stood like this with her arms out to stop them from coming in because like me like most women there we thought that they were antifa, they had broken through the lines we were about to get attacked and the police for some reason that I do not understand, ushered them in let them have photos on the steps next to us and then instead of pushing them back out the same way that they came in, took them right through that the middle of the buffer zone that they had been, you know, at great pains to separate us all um from either side of, they just walked them right through the middle and, and then right as they were in the centre in front of all those cameras they did a Nazi salute and that was horrifying but, you know, that was only a split second because then you know they would continue to be escorted out and so I thought oh good they’ve taken them out but it was only later on I thought why did they even let them in here, what, how were they able to keep all those trans rights activists, the ones who were punching horses, how did they keep all of those people away from us but they just welcomed in and let these people in black masks you couldn’t see their faces, no identifying, um
AJ [Ms Jones]: They looked like black bloc, they did, they looked like black bloc…
MD: You know, there was no symbols. People are saying, you know, why didn’t you tell the Nazis to leave well there was no Nazi symbols on them I thought they were antifa um until they put their hands up like that I thought they were the trans rights activists um and then when they did that you know they were being escorted out and it was over.
KJK: Well the funny thing is as well they shout at me you can’t run you can’t hide you’ve got Nazis on your side and they’re really angry shouting that I’m this thing and this apparent thing that they really hate when they those men did that Nazi salute…
MD: There’s no reaction
KJK: There was no reaction whatsoever, those trans activists didn’t get more angry didn’t shout didn’t get more agres… they didn’t do anything,
MD: It was as if they were saying hello. [*Laughter*]
KJK: Maybe it was that maybe to their friends but um I think it’s very interesting because I think any one of us recognisable women had walked that same bit down there they would have broken through they would have attacked us and I just… something about all of this doesn’t make any sense it feels really off, it feels like they were either… I mean look in the UK we had police impregnating women who were animal rights campaigners right and we, we had those police um infiltrating groups.
I don’t think it’s beyond the wit of anyone to think that that either was uh TRAs dressed up or police or just… something was just off because there wasn’t enough violence between the two men. …
MD: Best case scenario was a massive mistake by the police to let these unidentifiable masked men in because all of us women were terrified.
KJK: Yeah.
MD: We did not understand why they were there. The police had been successfully keeping everyone else away and then all of a sudden there were these terrifying big strong masked men and we didn’t know why they were there and we know now that the police knew that they weren’t with us because they obviously escorted them away from us and away from the protest and uh and that our own marshals had asked them to leave.
KJK: But I don’t so I, I guess it’s not really for us to work out why the police suddenly escorted them away.
MD: Through the middle.
KJK: I mean that’s nuts but I wonder what prompted them to leave because I didn’t really notice them.
AJ: Yeah, they didn’t come near us. We all had our backs to these guys on the on the um steps we had our backs to these blokes and so there’s a few of us milling around once we realized they weren’t a threat we kind of turned our backs and we’ve just got on with it yeah and so the reason that there’s no photos out there of the Nazis with us “the Nazis” inverted commas with us is because they were never with us they were like way over there.
We all had our backs we were facing the opposite direction so when the police marched them out they marched them towards the trans rights activists past the trans rights activists, they saluted at the trans rights activist and the trans rights activists didn’t even blink and kept yelling at us women.
KJK: Yeah.
KD: It’s very strange.
…
KD: … it is really quite viscerally scary and you think… you have those moments where you think my God all I’m doing is standing here saying: women have the right to sex based rights, stop messing with our kids, let us have our freedom of speech and this is the response people need to start waking up to the fact as to how powerful and how dangerous this movement really is I mean as we know they’ve infiltrated our, our institutions Our Judiciary our parliaments our media and so on and the fact that even the police are afraid of their violence I mean we need to ask who, who are the baddies here people because I don’t think it was the group of middle-aged women standing there in our sun hats a few with our husbands listening to other women speak.
KJK: But look that that that won’t stop us uh next stop is wherever I’m going next Tasmania, Hobart, um and then it’s going to be Canberra and then we’re coming to uh New Zealand which will be interesting I’m not even sure goodness knows I don’t think anything can be quite as um Exciting um as today but yeah the speeches from Australian women have just been sublime uh it’s like they’ve been holding their breath for quite some time and so have just come out with the most um wonderful things and the f word said in an Australian accent is particularly wonderful but thank you all of you thank you for your hard work in making this.
MD: Thank you for coming to Australia thank you for coming to Melbourne, we appreciate it.
KJK: Well here’s to us being amazing cheers everyone [*all clink glasses*] and goodbye people at home.
KD: Good evening everyone.
KJK: Bye.
165 At approximately 1.50pm [19 March 2023], the Australian Jewish Association published a statement on Facebook which relevantly said as follows (Ex A39):
NAZIS CRASH WOMEN’S RALLY IN MELBOURNE – questions raised re police behaviour
Yesterday a “Let Women Speak” rally was held in Melbourne featuring visiting British women’s advocate Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (also known as Posie Parker) as well as local women. This movement is concerned that biological men are undermining the integrity of women’s sport and spaces such as bathrooms.
[Australian Jewish Association] unreservedly condemns the Nazis who invaded the rally. These ugly thugs likely saw an opportunity to hijack the event for their own publicity.
…
The Nazis were condemned by the women’s rally organisers – one contacted AJA in distress explaining what had happened. The “Let Women Speak” organisers had nothing to do with the Nazis.
It is shameful that some politicians and media are now trying to smear this women’s movement with the false accusation of involvement with Nazis.
203 [ The Liberal Party produced a press release]
‘Yesterday afternoon Victorians witnessed an abomination on the steps of the Victorian Parliament when neo-Nazi protestors engaged in an affront to the values we should all hold dear as Victorians.
The violence, prejudice and hate that these protestors conveyed by their odious actions will never be acceptable in our state. I condemn them and commit to opposing such hate wherever it may exist.
This afternoon, I met with Moira Deeming MP to discuss the events of Saturday and her association with neo-Nazis which has come to light as a result of the events of yesterday
At our meeting I informed Ms Deeming that I intend to move a motion at the next party room meeting to expel her as a member of the Parliamentary Liberal Party as her position is untenable.
This is not an issue about free speech but a member of the parliamentary party associating with neo-Nazis and what they represent.
The Liberal Party I joined, and which I am now honoured to lead, must strive to represent all Victorians.
Regardless of religious faith, race, sexual preference or ethnicity, Victorians everywhere should know that the Liberal Party is inclusive and can be a voice for them.
No matter what our background we all share the abiding bond of an essential humanity.
Equality of opportunity, the benefits to each and all of an enterprising culture, the security that comes from the rule of law, the strength which stems from families and communities that can live together in search of happiness while sharing in our state’s prosperity, must extend to all people who reside in our land.’
Press reports followed some saying there was a link between the Nazis and LWS.
20 March 2023
Pesutto had interviews with a radio station ( 3AW) and ABC
The Liberal Party then held a press conference.
275 At 4.27pm, Mrs Deeming issued a statement on Facebook (Ex R39), as follows:
PRESS RELEASE
MOIRA DEEMING
LIBERAL MP-WESTERN METROPOLITAN REGION
Personal statement:
I have been informed that there will be a vote in the Liberal Party room to determine whether I should be allowed to remain or be expelled from the Parliamentary Party.
Let me clear [sic] – I have done nothing wrong. Those who organised the Let Women Speak event on the weekend have done nothing wrong.
Despite this, a select few members of the Liberal leadership team have condemned me unjustly.
This is an inflection point for the Liberal Party in Victoria. There are two paths the Party must choose from.
Does it 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? Are we truly suggesting that we let Daniel Andrews [then the Premier of Victoria] decide the rules about who is attached to and responsible for who? This from a Premier whose own Party was found to have rorted the tax payer over the scandalous red shirts affair and yet apparently has nothing to do with it and bears no responsibility or accountability for it.
Or will the Liberal Party choose this moment to draw a line in the sand and stand on our principles. I believe that Victorians want us as Liberals to stand up to the bullying from Daniel Andrews. They’ve had enough of the spin and the slander. And enough of women and girls being silenced about the extraordinary challenges we face.
My intention is to fight and to remain a member of the team. I hope that my colleagues draw the line and say enough, and that I am able to fight alongside them. 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.
Background statement:
On Saturday 18th of March, I attended the ‘Let Women Speak’ event hosted by ‘Standing For Women UK’ (SFW).
SFW advocates for the reinstatement of reasonable biological-sex based rights and against the irreversible and harmful medical transitioning practices used on gender non-conforming, autistic and gay minors.
This organisation and its goals are mainstream and global, supported by high profile members and leaders of every mainstream political party in the world.
The Melbourne “Let Women Speak” event was attended by Muslims, Christians, Atheists and members of the Greens, Labor, LDP and Liberal Parties. I announced on International Women’s Day, in Parliament that I’d be in attendance and invited Natalie Hutchins to join me, because she is the Minister for Women.
Due to threats of violence from extreme left activists including the notorious Antifa, I was approached and asked if I could drive international speaker Kelly Jay and her security guards to park in Parliament House car park, for safer passage to and from the Parliament House steps. I sought and gained permission from Parliament services to do so.
The event was very ably organised by Angela Jones, a left-wing, pro-gay rights Jewish woman, who liaised with Victoria Police to arrange a buffer zone between her event and any counter protestors.
This is why I and the other attendees were horrified to see masked men all clad in black inside the buffer zone. We thought that we were going to be attacked. However, the police did not seem worried and were talking with them over at the edge of the line.
Later I saw the police seemingly usher these men right through the centre of the buffer zone in between our event and the counter protestors, which is when I saw those men raise their hands in a Hitler salute.
I, along with the few others who were facing them from the front were horrified, but relieved that the police were moving them on.
After the event I was informed that these masked men had in fact mounted Parliament House steps outside of our view on the other end and performed a Nazi salute, and that members of the SFW group asked the police to make them leave, but were informed that the Police had no powers to move them on due to Labor’s removal of those powers.
The Let Women Speak event saw several women injured by the extreme left counter protestors who infiltrated the event. I was assaulted and injured, along with multiple other women, including one who was taken to hospital after being knocked unconscious. They also became violent with police and punched police horses, forcing the event to finish early. I condemn their actions, and call on others to condemn this violence against peaceful women.
I also condemn of the actions of the masked men in black who were later identified as Neo-Nazis, who gate-crashed the Let Women Speak event. 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.
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, as has been confirmed by Victoria Police, the Australian Jewish Association and all the organisers themselves.
If Daniel Andrews had not repealed the ‘move on’ laws, they could have been removed. The ‘move on’ laws need to be strengthened and I also welcome moves to ban the Nazi salute.
And I hope that the concerns of women and girls will finally be deemed worthy of attention.
21 March
The expulsion motion is published
On both 20 and 21 March a number of women who attended the rally wrote to Mr Pesutto to say that LWS and Moira had nothing to do with the Nazis.
26 March
308 At 2.51pm, Mrs Deeming sent an email to members of the Victorian Parliamentary Liberal Party asking them to vote against the expulsion motion (Ex R41).
309 The email was as follows:
Dear Colleagues,
I respectfully write to ask that you vote against the motion to expel me from the Liberal Party Parliamentary team because I am innocent of these charges, I am a brand new MP and deserve the chance to learn from this, and because guilt by various degrees of association is not a standard that any one of us can avoid transgressing.
I love the Liberal Party and I truly want to stay part of our Parliamentary team. Regardless of the outcome of this vote, I’ll be keeping my Liberal Party membership and representing us in Parliament to the best of my ability.
I want you all to know that I have learned many painful lessons from this experience, and that I deeply regret the trouble this has caused my state and federal colleagues and the wider party membership. And also, that my offer to publicly back the current leadership team if the vote to expel me fails, still stands.
Although the vote to expel an MP should be based on facts and evidence, I do understand and lament the fact that as a Party we seem to be wedged between two very unpleasant media narratives.
The first false narrative is that I or the Liberal Party are in any way, shape, or form, directly or indirectly somehow ‘pro-Nazi’, due to my affiliation with the “Let Women Speak” Australia campaign. This accusation is demonstrably false. It has been damaging in the extreme to my reputation and to the Liberal Party brand.
The second narrative is that the Victorian Liberal Party Parliamentary team is anti-women and anti-free speech for punishing my advocacy and involvement with a legal and mainstream ‘women’s rights’ campaign event, previously attended and supported by other senior female Coalition MPs like Senator Jacinta Price and Senator Claire Chandler.
I believe that we can take control of this situation and create for ourselves, a third media narrative- one where we avoid both catastrophes and emerge united as a team around the current leadership.
The fact is that the information provided to our Leadership team was poorly researched and the allegations made based on that information have been proven wrong. But that is good news for us all, because the Leadership have legitimate grounds to retract the expulsion motion.
To that end, I would like to clarify for all my colleagues, the sentiments I expressed on Sunday night in my meeting with the four members of the Leadership team and Nick Johnson.
1 I condemn Nazism unreservedly, and my offer to make another public statement to that effect, workshopped with the media department and signed off on by Leadership- still stands.
2 I condemn bigotry towards the LGBTQI+ community, and especially any inferences or claims that being a part of that community implies any kind of paedophilia- and my offer to make another public statement to that effect, workshopped with the media department and signed off on by Leadership- still stands.
3 Until the meeting on Sunday night, I had never before heard allegations that ‘Standing For Women’ or Kelly-Jay Keen had alleged associations to any degree whatsoever, as a Nazi or a Nazi sympathiser. The quotes read to me by Nick Johnson in that meeting were a total shock. I accept that an experienced person such as Nick was able to find those accusations in “under ten minutes”. For example, the main allegations came from a single article from a small left wing pro-Scottish newspaper. For my part, I had only ever known of Kelly-Jay Keen and the “Standing For Women” organisation through the lens of mainstream media interviews about them and with them, with mainstream interviewers in the UK, Canada and NZ. In Australia SFW associations were with prominent female Coalition MPs like Senator Jacinta Price and Senator Claire Chandler, and with mainstream organisations like CPAC and Women’s Forum. The majority of speakers at the previous events have been left-wing middle-aged women and members of the LGBT community themselves. I maintain that I had no reasonable ability to foresee the ambush by Nazis at Parliament House that day. And my offer made on Sunday night, to have my future attendance at events vetted by Party Leadership, still stands.
4 I acknowledge that I was unwilling on Sunday night, to accept a characterisation of my video clip with Katherine Deves, Angela Jones and Kellie-Jay Keen (where we lamented the presence of those Nazi’s anywhere near our group) as “having drinks with Nazis”. I found the accusation deeply offensive because that is something that I would never do, as I find Nazism abhorrent on every level. But my offer to accept regular guidance on all things political, still stands.
5 I acknowledge that I am a new and inexperienced MP, and that I do not adequately understand the ‘unspoken’ or nuanced expectations that seem to be obvious to others- even to other new MPs. My offer to take close guidance from wiser heads on all aspects of politics into the future, still stands.
6 I acknowledge that I did not follow up on my requests made at our inaugural Coalition conference, for specific help with how to wisely manage my pursuit of fairer sex-based protections. My offer to take close guidance from ‘wiser heads’ on these issues into the future, still stands.
7 I acknowledge that I did not follow up on my requests, made in an Upper House Parliamentary team meeting, for written guidelines and tips for New MPs. My offer to take closer guidance from ‘wiser heads’ on these issues into the future, still stands.
8 I didn’t realise that I was expected to directly ask Leadership for permission to go to the “Let Women Speak” rally. I had been unaware of the Leadership’s desire for me to do so, because as far as I could see, this is was [sic] not common practice. However, my offer to run event attendance by ‘wiser heads’ on these issues into the future, still stands.
9 I acknowledge that I did not realise how strongly some Liberal MPs object to my advocacy for sex-based rights, parents rights and free speech as they relate to transgender laws. Or that they consider my views on this topic to be so politically toxic and out of step with a progressive modern-day Liberal Party, that they believed I needed to become an independent MP in order to pursue them. I had been under the impression that so long as I spoke respectfully and didn’t announce policies, I was welcome to advocate on these topics. I had no idea that this was a non-negotiable issue or that the number of times that I spoke about it were being counted as ‘strikes’ against me (my maiden speech, IWD speech and attendance at the LWS event). If I do survive this expulsion motion, I hope that we can discuss these issues together in private so that we all have clarity and unity going forward.
10 I acknowledge that I was given the option to resign from the Parliamentary team or be put through a motion of expulsion, but that I did not give an answer that night. This is because I was under the impression that I had until Tuesday to speak with others and try to negotiate a solution. I was further advised by supporters in the party not to speak with media or make any statements until such negotiations had prevailed. Then I saw the expulsion motion announcement in the media. I tried to negotiate further under media silence, but eventually concluded that whatever else happened, I surely had the right and the responsibility to make a statement on social media condemning Nazism and explaining what really happened. I acknowledge that this move angered some of my colleagues. However, in my defence, I have never been through anything like this before, I don’t know the rules, and I was unable to get help from our media department. I am truly shocked and saddened at how this situation has unfolded, not only for myself, but for the whole parliamentary team.
If you have any questions or would like any assurances, please don’t hesitate to ask.
27 March
Moira is initially suspended for 9 months
There followed a dispute about the ‘suspension agreement’.
365 At 11.13am on 6 May, Mrs Deeming published the following statement as a tweet (Ex R59):
‘As is now clear from the minutes that have finally been published, the Victorian parliamentary Liberal Party agreed on March 27 that “no one was accusing (me) of being a Nazi or a Nazi sympathiser”.
And even though Liberal leader, John Pesutto MP never made the joint statement that the meeting agreed he should, he did say publicly on Thursday that “nothing in the dossier ever accused (me) of being a Nazi or herself having Nazi sympathies”.
All I have ever wanted, since the leader’s failed attempt to have me expelled for allegedly bringing the party into disrepute, was to have my name cleared.
I have never once considered suing the Liberal Party and reports that I have, or had planned to do so, are false. It is important to clarify here that I only contemplated legal assistance (eg mediation) as a way of helping me negotiate to settle the conditions of my suspension and to see what was agreed in the party room in March honoured. To date, others, acting on my behalf, have been working with the Liberal Leadership team to help resolve this issue, but to no avail. Moreover, when I was told on Thursday night that the Leadership team had rejected my request for a legally mediated re-do of the meeting to properly settle the conditions of my suspension, I immediately advised the Victorian Liberal Party President, Mr Greg Mirabella, that I would pursue it no further.
Thankfully, it is now clear from the published minutes that the original expulsion motion was never formally put to the party room. I consider this fact vital, because it proves that my suspension is unconnected to the expulsion allegations. These minutes afford me the full, official, written, public exoneration that the Leadership seems unwilling to provide.
The past six weeks have taken a terrible toll on me personally. I have had to publicly disclose childhood sexual abuse and endure constant media attacks while remaining silent. At all times I have tried to work through internal processes to resolve these issues and declined to air public criticism of the Liberal party.
Now, I am moving on.
I was elected as a Liberal; I remain a proud Liberal; and I look forward to re-joining the party room at the end of the year.
Thank you to everyone who has supported me through what’s been a very difficult time’
378 On 12 May, Ms Baxendale published an article in The Australian entitled “Moira Deeming serves John Pesutto with defamation concerns notice”, which quoted from the Concerns Notice Mrs Deeming served on Mr Pesutto on 11 May 2023 (Ex R51).
379 The same day, there was a further party room meeting at which the second expulsion motion was carried. The second expulsion motion expelled Moira from the Party completely and not temporarily.
I will return with Part 2 asap.
Please let me know if you find this of use and let me have any comments.
#BeMorePorcupine
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Dear readers
A heads up that Mr Menno is releasing a premiere at 21.00 GMT tonight namely an interview with Sally Wainwright.
See some of you there 😁
Dusty