Liberals’ LGBTQ branch calls for Victorian MPs to boot Deeming
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The Liberal Party’s national branch for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender members has called on Victorian MPs to expel Moira Deeming at tomorrow’s highly anticipated party room meeting.
In a Wednesday night email to MPs seen by The Age, Liberal Pride president Heath Wilson, who is based in Melbourne, wrote that Deeming had “damaged our brand” and it was time for her to be kicked out of the state party room and, eventually, the party itself.
Liberal Pride has called for Victorian MP Moira Deeming, right, to be booted from the party room while backing Opposition Leader John Pesutto.Credit: Jason South; Darrian Traynor
He also backed Opposition Leader John Pesutto, the rest of the Victorian leadership team and the five MPs who put their names to the second expulsion motion, which will be put to a vote on Friday morning.
“We consider that Mrs Deeming’s actions have destabilised the Victorian Liberal Party and damaged our brand, and provided a much-needed distraction for the Andrews government which should have its feet to the fire for corruption scandals and financial incompetence,” Wilson wrote in the leaked email.
“The decision to expel Mrs Deeming is a necessary step in promoting a culture of acceptance and respect for all members of our community. It is also a necessary step in bringing an end to this saga and allowing us to reset before the budget.”
Deeming has been contacted for comment.
Liberal MPs are set to vote on Deeming’s future for a second time after MPs James Newbury, Matthew Guy, Roma Britnell, Cindy McLeish and Wayne Farnham on Saturday moved a motion to expel her from the party room for “bringing discredit” on the parliamentary team.
The motion came after Deeming told colleagues she had advised her lawyers to prepare a legal challenge to her nine-month suspension. However, she backed down from that legal threat over the weekend, denying she had planned to sue the Liberal Party and only wanted a lawyer’s assistance to clear her name.
“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,” Deeming said in her statement.
“The past six weeks have taken a terrible toll on me personally.”
The Western Metropolitan MP was suspended from the Liberal party room in March after attended the controversial Let Women Speak rally on the steps of state parliament. That protest was gatecrashed by neo-Nazis.
Both Deeming’s supporters and her critics believe tomorrow’s expulsion motion will pass. Should it succeed, the MP will continue to serve in parliament on the crossbench.
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