Weeks ago, The Spectator Australia warned that there was a risk Moira Deeming could be dropped in favour of Indian community leader Dinesh Gourisetty, who was challenging her at this weekend’s preselection.
Deeming, who was only contesting the top spot on the ticket, will now lose her seat at the Victorian election later this year after the party delegates voted 37-29 against her.
The vote is conducted with delegates from Western suburbs branches and a random selection from metropolitan Melbourne to make up the numbers.
‘Gourisetty attempted preselection in 2022, but he failed to secure the backing of the then-state party president, Robert Clark, and his allies, in part due to breaches of the Food Safety Act he pleaded guilty to in 2019. It led to Deeming’s preselection…’
This time, Gourisetty was successful with a wide margin of support.
Conservatives have taken to social media to vent their frustration at losing one of the most recognisable and respected members of the state Liberal team.
Deeming has been put through hell ever since the 2023 Let Women Speak rally where she was falsely (and ridiculously) accused of being associated with neo-Nazis who gate-crashed the rally. The black-clad group were regular agitators in Victoria before they were disbanded following the post-Bondi hate groups legislation.
Readers will remember the insanity of that saga, so we won’t repeat it here. Suffice to say, rolling Deeming after she survived attacks on her character is unlikely to go well for the Liberals at the next election where voters will pass judgment on the preselection result.
In the final days before the Victorian preselection, former Prime Minister Tony Abbott attempted to wade into battle, but it was far too little too late. There was probably no hope for her anyway, given the moderate faction’s opinion on the demise of Pesutto’s leadership, however self-inflicted it may have been.
Party leader, Jess Wilson, backed Deeming publicly (albeit weakly) along with other sitting members. This result has likely cemented the view that her leadership is too moderate to face-off against the One Nation challenge.
Worse, the loss of Deeming may have wider ramifications for the Liberal movement in general, as Deeming is a regular speaker at conservative events and one of the few who enjoys name recognition across the country.
Moira Deeming showed incredible strength by refusing to throw the Let Women Speak rally under the bus during the height of the anti-biology panic.
While it is rumoured some may view removing Deeming as a way to erase the ‘distraction’ that her conflict with Pesutto created, the voting public will likely interpret it negatively.
It will surprise no one that One Nation has immediately renewed its offer to Deeming. Given what we saw in South Australia, the Liberals may have just handed One Nation another chunk of the base.
State president Warren Pickering said: ‘Regardless of the direction the Liberal Party of Victoria has chosen to take, we’d hate to see Moira left in the same political wilderness with which the party itself has chosen to explore.’
As our Editor-in-Chief, Rowan Dean, tweeted today: Final act: Moira Deeming joins One Nation and runs for the same seat and wins it…
