Moira Deeming dropped a supreme court injunction earlier this week, paving the way for the Victorian Liberals’ state executive to vote on her future in the party. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAPMoira Deeming dropped a supreme court injunction earlier this week, paving the way for the Victorian Liberals’ state executive to vote on her future in the party. Photograph: Joel Carrett/AAPMoira Deeming disendorsed as Victorian Liberal party candidate for upcoming state election The party’s state executive decided MP’s fate after she withdrew her legal action against the party earlier this week
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Victorian Liberal MP Moira Deeming has been disendorsed ahead of the upcoming state election despite dropping an eleventh-hour legal challenge against her own party.
The state party called a meeting for Friday afternoon where they voted to remove the MP as a candidate for the November election.
“Tonight the Liberal Party state executive decided to cancel the endorsement of Moira Deeming for the number 1 position in the Western Metropolitan region,” a statement said.
“The Liberal Party wishes to thank Moira for her service to the Liberal Party.
“The Liberal Party considers the matter resolved and we look forward to continuing to outline our plan to provide the fresh start Victoria needs in the leader up to the November election.”
The decision puts her future political career in jeopardy. While she remains in the opposition party room, she will lose her position as an MP after the November election unless she runs as an independent.
Guardian Australia has contacted Deeming for a response.
Deeming announced on Wednesday she had withdrawn her supreme court challenge against party president, Brian Loughnane, which was initially sought to prevent the party from moving against her following an incident in May.
Deeming, who sits in the upper house for the Western Metropolitan Region, had accused fellow Liberal MP Matthew Guy of grabbing her “violently” in a headlock, but later claimed she misunderstood the meaning of headlock.
CCTV footage from a function in May showed Guy placing his hand on Deeming’s upper back as they lean in to talk to one another.
Police investigated the reported incident and concluded there was “no offence detected”.
0:26CCTV footage shows interaction between Matthew Guy and Moira Deeming – videoGuy told reporters in June that Deeming had owed him a public apology, adding he vehemently denied that anything untoward took place.
“Moira Deeming owes me a public apology. I’m owed an apology by the premier and the attorney-general,” he said in a statement outside parliament.
“They can come to me the honourable and easy way, or a harder way.”
On Wednesday, Deeming sent a 12-page statement to the party’s state executive, providing a mediation proposal that allowed her to end the supreme court action.
“The state executive, having all the evidence before them, can now decide whether to pursue mediation or reconvene to disendorse me,” she said.
“Having been overseas and unwell when the story broke and jetlagged and unwell when the disendorsement meeting was called, the injunction gave me time to recover, review all the facts, learn the difference between a headlock and a collar-tie grip, and gather my thoughts.”
Deeming had attempted to stop the party from voting to drop her as a candidate for the November election during a one-day trial at the supreme court last Friday, but the legal action was officially withdrawn earlier this week.
Deeming had initially been ousted from the number one spot in March by Dinesh Gourisetty, before the latter was dumped.
The 43-year-old’s first term in Victorian state parliament has been marred with controversy.
Elected in 2022, she was expelled from the party room in 2023 after after she attended an anti-trans rally she claims was “gate-crashed” by neo-Nazis.
Deeming then successfully sued former leader, John Pesutto, for defamation after he wrongly implied she was associated with neo-Nazis after they gatecrashed a rally at parliament she attended.
She was readmitted to the Liberal party in December 2024, after Pesutto was rolled as leader in favour of Brad Battin.
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