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Flat White

Pesutto’s road to nowhere

22 November 2023

5:00 AM

22 November 2023

5:00 AM

Who would have thought the Liberal Party would become the main bearer of cancel culture’s toxic torch?

It is the ultimate triumph of cultural Marxism to have the conservative side of politics doing its bidding.

Moira Deeming, the expelled Victorian Liberal parliamentarian, is fighting for her place not just in the party, but in polite society – so determined are the Liberals to disappear her.

Her fight is civil society’s fight.

Today, there’s no greater sin than to be deemed a Nazi associate, although ironically this doesn’t seem to bother those leveraging Hamas’ Nazi-like Jew murdering to hate on Israel.

The real Nazi sympathisers are not hiding, but for reasons unknown, Deeming is the only target of this smear.

For those who have forgotten what all the fuss is about, Deeming participated in a Let Women Speak rally on the steps of the Victorian Parliament House back in March.

Women from the left and right of politics gathered to protest the encroachment of biological males identifying as women in their spaces.

The protest was gate-crashed by a group of neo-Nazi men who performed a Hitler salute.

They had nothing to do with the event, but that didn’t stop then-Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews mischievously conflating their unwanted presence to tar the whole event as one where ‘anti-transgender’ activists ‘gathered to spread hate’.

‘I wish it didn’t have to be said, but clearly it does: Nazis aren’t welcome. Not on Parliament’s steps. Not anywhere. They were there to say the trans community don’t deserve rights, safety or dignity … their evil ideology is to scapegoat minorities – and it’s got no place here,’ Andrews wrote on Twitter.

Such conflation is the ultimate cancel culture weapon. No need to engage a brain in debate.

When asked by the left-leaning Guardian newspaper about Deeming’s involvement at the rally, deputy Liberal leader David Southwick ran for the hills.

‘Her views are not my views. We’ll have discussions with Moira.’


What views of Moira’s were not Southwick’s? He did not offer a clarification.

The fallout of the gatecrashing and subsequent coverage by media and political entities alike was a slur left standing against women and girls who seek protection from the more extreme consequences of LGBTQ+ political ideology.

Enter Daniel Andrews’ mini-me, Liberal Leader John Pesutto.

The parliamentary Liberal Party backed Pesutto in expelling Deeming, to the distress of many grassroots Liberals who have been powerless to have her reinstated.

Deeming has requested an apology and reinstatement after her family were put through hell because of comments falsely implying a ‘guilt by association’ narrative regarding the gatecrashing neo-Nazis, along with her colleagues’ expulsion of her from the Victorian Liberal Party.

This has been denied and, after another failed mediation on Sunday, Deeming is making good on her promise to sue for defamation.

How else is she to clear her name?

If there was any courage in the Liberal Party room or the party organisation, Deeming would be brought back into the tent with an apology.

Those who hold power in the party appear to dislike true conservatives – particularly strong conservative women who will speak in public about human rights for the unborn, the importance of marriage and family, and why extreme LGBTQ+ ideology is harmful.

Conservatives can exist in the Liberal Party, but only if they are silent, something Deeming, who brings grace and intelligence to the culture wars, is not.

The demonisation of Deeming continued this week after an anonymous source alleged she was seeking $1 million. She immediately refuted that as false.

Further to the ongoing discussion, Pesutto said in a statement:

‘Mrs Deeming’s suspension and subsequent expulsion were never about her views on women’s issues, I have never called Mrs Deeming a neo-Nazi or sympathiser, the issues in this matter have never concerned freedom of speech.’

This, of course, overlooks Pesutto’s widely criticised dossier directed at the Let Women Speak rally and its organisers.

One of the organisers, Kellie-Jay Keen, is also suing Pesutto for defamation.

‘The issue has always been whether Mrs Deeming called out or distanced herself from neo-Nazi protesters and references when asked to do so by senior Liberals,’ Pesutto said.

This is nonsensical because everyone knows Deeming distanced herself from the neo-Nazis. Not that she needed to – the idea they were part of the rally was always farcical.

Australia must ask itself why women are being thrown under this bizarre ‘fake Nazi bus’ when the event had nothing to do with a random group of men who are well known in Victoria for showing up to a variety of events, uninvited and unwanted.

Pesutto, it seems, is grasping for fig leaves. He only needs a small leaf, so flimsy and ridiculous is this saga.

Why he and the Liberal Party are fighting so hard to cancel Deeming is beyond belief. It is unhinged.

If the party, which is supposed to be the torch bearer of the freedoms championed by its founder Sir Robert Menzies metaphorically kills off Deeming, no one is safe.

From a golf course somewhere, Daniel Andrews must be smiling. From a Marxist study unit at Melbourne University, academics give a wry grin.

It appears the Liberals are hoping for a conservative woman to be ruthlessly cancelled.

It’s a shame Pesutto and his colleagues have chosen the side of cancel culture – the side of Menzies’ ideological enemies.

Let us hope we are nearly the end of this ridiculous age for conservative politics.

Lyle Shelton is National Director of the Family First party.

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