Updated ,first published
Liberal MP Moira Deeming will have one last chance to defend herself on Friday at a meeting of her party’s state executive, where they will decide whether to remove her as a candidate.
Opposition Leader Jess Wilson on Wednesday said the Liberal Party’s state executive would meet to consider Deeming’s candidacy for the No.1 upper house spot in the Metropolitan West region for November’s Victorian election.
Although the result will not be known until after 6.30pm Friday night, party figures and MPs across moderate and conservative factions have developed a broad consensus that they need to cut ties with Deeming.
One Liberal MP, speaking anonymously to detail confidential discussions, said Deeming would be afforded a fair process, but it appeared she had lost the support of most of her biggest backers in the party.
The furore began when Deeming accused former Liberal leader and her parliamentary colleague Matthew Guy of assault, including an unfounded claim that he put her in a headlock, at an event in May.
CCTV footage from inside the Macedonian community event instead showed an innocuous interaction in which Guy briefly put his arm on Deeming’s shoulder as the pair leaned forward to hear one another in the middle of a crowded room. In mid-June, Deeming made a complaint to police, which was closed without charge.
“I did not do what was alleged. The CCTV proves this, it did from the start, and Victoria Police agree,” Guy told reporters.
Deeming has refused Guy’s requests for an apology, which Wilson has also requested.
Earlier this week, Deeming said there was nothing to apologise for, but that she misunderstood the technical meaning of a headlock.
The state executive will not move to expel her from the Liberal Party and will only vote on whether to remove her candidacy for the November state election.
She will be invited to speak on her own behalf at the meeting, which one Liberal source said was “above and beyond” typical protocol.
“Victorians are relying on my team to change the direction of this state. I am determined to not let them down,” Wilson said. “I will not be making further comment until the matter is resolved.
Shadow Attorney-General James Newbury on Wednesday said he believed Wilson would attend the meeting as a member of the party executive.
Newbury said there was no action underway to potentially expel Deeming from the party room, in addition to disendorsing her, but wouldn’t be drawn on his own views on her future.
“It was incumbent on the party to take a next step. It’s taken a step that I would say is speedy. They’ve announced that it’s occurring on Friday, and I think that that is the appropriate next step,” he said.
Newbury said he did not know if Wilson’s office had been in contact with Deeming.
Deeming first came to prominence in March 2023 for attending a Let Women Speak rally on the steps of the Victorian parliament gate-crashed by neo-Nazis.
The day after the rally, the then-leadership team of John Pesutto, Georgie Crozier, David Southwick and Matt Bach met in the leader’s office to decide what to do about Deeming. One of their concerns, which has turned out to be prophetic, was that if nothing were done, Deeming would “blow up” the party months before the 2026 election.
Instead, their decision to suspend Deeming from the party room on flimsy evidence of wrongdoing poisoned Pesutto’s leadership.
Deeming successfully sued Pesutto for defamation, which sparked her return to the party room, weeks before he was ousted as leader.
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Chip Le Grand leads our state politics reporting team. He previously served as the paper’s chief reporter and is a journalist of 30 years’ experience.Connect via email.
